West can welcome visitors by April 12
Slow lifting of lockdown – but hopes rise for a summer of fun
THE Westcountry’s all-important holiday cottage industry could be opening up to guests by April 12 – just in time for the second week of school Easter holidays.
Under Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s ultra-cautious roadmap out of coronavirus lockdown, overnight stays in self-contained accommodation will be allowed from as early as April 12. But it will take until June 21 – the longest day – before restrictions are fully lifted for pubs, restaurants, nightclubs and other meeting places.
Mr Johnson said he accepted some people would think he was moving too quickly and others too slowly. But he concluded his statement to the House of Commons, saying: “Today the end really is in sight and a wretched year will give way to a spring and a summer that will be very different and incomparably better than the picture we see around us today.”
Cornwall tourism leader Malcolm Bell welcomed the news for selfcatering accommodation but warned there might be nowhere for holidaymakers to eat and drink.
He said: “We had 2.5m people down last year. It worked, we know we can operate safely.”
However Mr Bell said that there will be new challenges in managing tourism in the West given the pace at which different elements of the visitor experience can open up.
ENGLAND’S coronavirus restrictions could finally be lifted by June 21 as part of a fourstage plan, Boris Johnson has announced as he declared “the end really is in sight”.
The Prime Minister told MPs the approach was “cautious but also irreversible”, with the impact of the vaccination programme replacing the need for lockdown measures.
The Prime Minister acknowledged that scientific modelling suggested that lifting lockdown measures would increase Covid-19 cases and ultimately deaths but insisted the restrictions could not continue indefinitely.
In the first phase, all pupils in England’s schools are expected to return to class from March 8, with wider use of face masks and testing in secondaries.
Socialising in parks and public spaces with one other person will also be permitted from that date.
A further easing of restrictions will take place on March 29 when the school Easter holidays begin – with larger groups of up to six people or two households allowed to gather in parks and gardens.
Other measures in the roadmap set out by the Prime Minister include:
From April 12 at the earliest: shops, hairdressers, nail salons, libraries, outdoor attractions and outdoor hospitality venues such as beer gardens will reopen.
From May 17 at the earliest, two households or groups of up to six people will be allowed to mix indoors and crowds of up to 10,000 in the largest venues will be allowed at performances and sporting events.
Friends and family could finally be allowed to hug each other again, with the road map promising that advice on social distancing will be updated “as soon as possible” and no later than step three.
From June 21 at the earliest, all remaining restrictions on social contact could be lifted, larger events can go ahead and nightclubs could finally reopen.
Malcolm Bell, chief executive of Visit Cornwall, welcomed the Government’s roadmap announcement, but that he was disappointed that pubs and restaurants will have to remain closed until May 17.
Mr Bell said that there will be new challenges in managing tourism in Cornwall.
He explained that he was worried about people who may decide to open their own temporary campsites on fields if the demand gets really high.
‘What we are worried about is that there will be nowhere for guests to eat or drink’ MALCOLM BELL
His message to anyone considering this is: “Make sure you comply with the rules and make sure you consider what your neighbours think.”
And on international travel, which will not resume before May 17, he said: “We won’t see many people from other countries. It will depend on what the other countries do.”
But there is good news for Cornwall residents as Mr Bell added: “All of us locals will have Easter, April, May and the whole of June before the crowds arrive. It will give us time to enjoy Cornwall.”
Patrick Langmaid, director of Mother Ivey’s Bay holiday park at Trevose Head, said: “Self-catering accommodation can reopen on April 12. But it doesn’t mean it’s great news. A lot of people are going to be struggling. The devil will be in the detail. I worry about the whole of the Cornish hospitality. Pubs and restaurants are going to need support. I worry for pubs that are asked to open at reduced capacity. They’re better off shut and being supported until they can open fully.”
Mr Langmaid added that his customers “are not going to get the Cornish experience they were expecting” as most of the hospitality sector will remain shut.
Making a statement in the Commons,
the Prime Minister acknowledged “the threat remains substantial” with the numbers in hospital only now beginning to fall below the peak of the first wave in April.
Modelling by the Sage scientific advisory panel showed “we cannot escape the fact that lifting lockdown will result in more cases, more hospitalisations and sadly more deaths”.
“And this would happen whenever lockdown is lifted – whether now or in six or nine months – because there will always be some vulnerable people who are not protected by the vaccines.
“There is therefore no credible route to a zero Covid Britain, or indeed, a zero Covid world and we cannot persist indefinitely with restrictions that debilitate our economy, our physical and mental wellbeing and the life chances of our children.”
The Prime Minister said his approach would be driven by “data not dates”, with the five-week gap between stages allowing time for the impact on infections to be determined and for companies to get ready.
Progress on the next steps out of lockdown will depend on meeting four tests: the success of the vaccine rollout, evidence of vaccine efficacy, an assessment of new variants, and keeping infection rates below a level that could put unsustainable pressure on the NHS.
Alongside the four-step plan, the Prime Minister launched a series of reviews – including on whether people should be able to show if they have had a Covid-19 vaccine or a negative test. And he said restrictions on some businesses into the summer will lead to an extension in taxpayer-funded support schemes