Loved ones and garden

It’s now 50 days since the lockdown started, and readers of the Peterborough Telegraph have had their say on how and when restrictions should be eased.

Our lockdown survey, published across this title and 150 others across the UK last week, has had a great response.

It gives an insight into how the coronavirus crisis has impacted people in Peterborough and what they would like to see happen in the coming weeks and months.

We asked readers 25 questionson their attitude towards the lockdown. Of these questions five focused on how lockdown restrictions might be eased - and today we can reveal how our readers answered.

The majority of PT readers who completed our survey said they felt ‘slightly’ concerned about going to public places such as shops, bars, restaurants and cinemas once lockdown is eased.

40.9% said they felt slightly concerned, 38.6% felt ‘very’ concerned, 9.9% were not very concerned, 9.45% were not at all concerned with just over 1% not sure.

By comparison, on a national level, 41% answered ‘slightly concerned’, 37% answered ‘very concerned’, 12% answered ‘not very concerned’ and 10% answered ‘not at all concerned’.

Of those who took part in the survey, a majority of PT readers said ‘visits to family and friends’ should be given the highest level of priority when restrictions are eased.

63.27% felt that visits to family and friends should be given the highest priority with 31.3% believing family visits were of medium priority and just under 5% said it was a low priority. When it comes to re-opening of workplaces the spread was more even with 43.18% saying this should be a high priority and a slightly higher 43.3% saying it should be a medium priority.

On the question of re-opening schools 38% thought this should be a high priority but 33% said it was a medium priority and 21.5% a low priority.

On the question of re-opening local high street, shops and restaurants just 17.09% thought this was a high priority with 49.33% putting it as medium priority and 32.98% low priority. On resuming professional sports the view was clear, Just 8.25% thought it was high priority, 19.19% medium and 68.52% saw it as low priority.

The result was equally clear on attendance of large public events (festivals, concerts, sports etc) with 4.80% saying it was high priority, 13.19% medium and 78.26% low.

We also asked people which of the following - garden centres, DIY stores, fast food restaurants, takeaway coffee chains and electrical stores - they would be most keen to visit if they were reopened in the near future, with social distancing measures in place.

Most respondents said they were keen to visit garden centres (47.83%), followed by DIY stores (34.78%) followed by fast food (28.79%), takeaway coffee (22.79%) with electrical stores (11.54%) receiving the smallest number of votes.

When asked how well they thought the UK Government had handled the coronavirus crisis, 16.79% of PT readers said ‘very well’, 36.43% said ‘quite well’, 23.09% said ‘not very well’, while 21.59% stated ‘not well at all’ with just over 2% saying they didn’t know.

The national average, by comparison, was 12% for ‘very well’, 34% for ‘quite well’, 24%