Mayor tells of relief and frustrations over latest restrictions
‘DAFTEST’ GARDEN RULE HAS NOW BEEN LIFTED FOR CITY
THE city mayor has expressed relief at news there will be a slight relaxation to one of the “daftest” Leicester lockdown rules.
City MPs yesterday confirmed Leicester will be placed in the “high” alert level, meaning tier 2 restrictions will apply to those living and working in the city.
The three-tier system was announced by the Prime Minister yesterday in the House of Commons.
With the city in the middle band of three tiers, residents will now be able to spend time with family or friends in a private garden or park, while observing the rule of six and social distancing.
Indoor meet-ups with people from other households, in private homes or pubs and restaurants, remain banned.
Sir Peter told the Mercury: “The garden rule was one of the daftest things about the Leicester situation, so I’ll be glad to see that lifted.
“I made reference a few times to the fact that you could meet granny in a pub but not her own garden, now it seems things will be the other way around, but I need to read the small print to be sure.”
However, the city mayor remained frustrated that there doesn’t appear to be any criteria outlining what factors place areas in or out of different tiers.
He said: “What today’s announcement didn’t cover is what puts an area in or out of a certain tier or alert level.
“We’ve struggled with this in Leicester from the beginning, if people are to be given any prospect of restrictions being lifted they need to know what has to happen for them to achieve that and we still don’t know.”
Overall, Sir Peter said he was pleased there will be some level of clarity over restrictions in different areas.
“It is good news that some of the discrepancies are now being sorted out,” he said.
“It seems as though it will be much easier to explain to people, and indeed for them to find out, exactly what the restrictions are for them. I welcome that at least.”
Speaking before the Prime Minister’s announcement, Sir Peter had said he hoped Leicester wouldn’t face the strictest level of restrictions, which would result in some hospitality venues being forced to close.
He told the Mercury that it would be “hugely unfair” if the city faced the same level of restriction as areas with rates way higher than here.
Commenting on the fact that Nottingham, which currently has the highest infection rate in the country, will be subject to the same level of restriction as Leicester, he said: “It is confusing when they do things like that and very hard to make sense of.”
He earlier said he had “expressed sympathies for the situation Nottingham finds itself in”.
Sir Peter also again made known his frustrations that lessons had not been learned from the way local lockdown was handled in the city.
“In one way it’s a relief that attention has shifted but in another, we have been left in lockdown and forgotten about,” he said.
“If there had been lessons learned it might be easier to accept but the same mistakes are being made elsewhere as they were in Leicester.”