‘COUNCILS MUST OPEN PARKS’
MINISTER WARNS SPACES ARE VITAL IN CITIES AND SHOULD ONLY CLOSE IF SOCIAL DISTANCING IMPOSSIBLE
PARKS should not be closed unless it is ‘impossible’ to maintain social distancing in them, councils have been told.
Housing and Communities secretary Robert Jenrick said yesterday he had ‘a lot of sympathy’ for councils who closed green spaces over the warm weekend, when they were reportedly crowded with sunseekers.
However, Mr Jenrick warned local authorities should be ‘very judicious in taking that step’. Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, he said they should ‘only do that where they feel it is impossible to maintain social distancing rules within their parks or open spaces.’
Sunny conditions are set to continue this week, with temperatures of around 24C forecast for tomorrow and Thursday in the south, the Met Office said.
Mr Jenrick (pictured) implored people to stay inside despite warm weather and Easter approaching.
But he said there were no ‘imminent plans’ for greater restrictions after warnings that outside exercise could be banned.
‘It would be very unfortunate if we had to do so and make it harder for people, particularly people who live in flats in towns and cities, to get the exercise they deserve,’ he told BBC Breakfast. And he suggested measures could be relaxed if ‘excess capacity’ in NHS intensive care units is maintained.
‘If we can do that then we can look, in the weeks to come, to begin to very carefully... lift some of those measures,’ he said. ‘But an exit strategy that’s sustainable will also have to be accompanied by much greater testing and tracing than we are able to do today.’ Lambeth council closed Brockwell Park in south-east London after saying 3,000 people, many sunbathing or in large groups, visited on Saturday. The park was reopened yesterday. Police moved people on in northwest London’s Primrose Hill and rules were breached on the south coast too.
Amid confusion over whether it was acceptable to sit and enjoy the sun while exercising, health minister Matt Hancock yesterday clarified that ‘sunbathing is against the rules’.