Fears for business after Warwickshire placed in Tier 3 coronavirus restrictions - The Leamington Observer

Fears for business after Warwickshire placed in Tier 3 coronavirus restrictions

Leamington Editorial 26th Nov, 2020 Updated: 26th Nov, 2020   0

WARWICKSHIRE will be placed in Tier 3 restrictions when lockdown ends.

The new measures, which will come into force on Wednesday (December 2), mean non-essential retail can reopen but venues such as pubs, restaurants, hotels and other leisure and events venues will remain closed.

Nearby Coventry, Solihull and Birmingham have also been placed in the ‘very high risk’ tier.

Louise Bennett, chief executive of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, said it was another bitter blow for businesses in the region.




She said: “We have said from day one that safety must come first and businesses across the region worked incredibly hard at the end of the first lockdown to make themselves Covid secure.

“We were hopeful the county would be placed into Tier 2 at the end of this lockdown to give our hospitality and events businesses a chance to operate at this crucial time of year for them.


“Once again, they will bear the brunt of the latest restrictions.”

She added other businesses would also be affected and it would mean people continuing to work from home where they could.

“We do, at least, have clarity around the likes of construction and manufacturing which can continue to operate.

“Businesses are going to need support from Government to get through this period but, as we’ve said for some time, there has to be a plan to get the economy open again.

“A viable vaccine is a light at the end of the tunnel but businesses can’t be on hold until that time.

“We have to use wider testing and a greater evidence-based approach to allow more of our businesses to open up.”

Warwick and Leamington MP Matt Western said: “It is deeply concerning that Warwick and Leamington entered lockdown in Tier 1 and will come out of it into Tier 3. This will be seriously damaging to local businesses and places deep restrictions on our social lives. This demonstrates why the Government should have acted harder and faster by introducing a circuit break much earlier – as myself and other Labour colleagues were calling for. We will now be paying the price for the Government’s dither and delay.

 

“This decision has been taken by the Government in Westminster, without input from local representatives like myself. I am pressing for full transparency on the basis of this decision, and challenging why Warwick District has been placed in the highest tier alongside other areas, rather than being judged as a lower-tier local authority area which would make most sene under a localised tier system.”

Stratford MP Nadhim Zahawi said: “Hugely disappointed that we are in Tier 3.

“The high numbers of infection – especially over 60 – hospitalisation in North Warwickshire and Solihull is the challenge. North and South Warwickshire need to work together to get the infection rates down and go into Tier 2 in two weeks time”.

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