Warwickshire County Council’s portfolio holder for Adult Social Care and Health has spoken about the temporary changes to road layouts being made in some of Warwickshire’s town centres.The coun...
Warwickshire County Council’s portfolio holder for Adult Social Care and Health has spoken about the temporary changes to road layouts being made in some of Warwickshire’s town centres.
The county council has worked at pace, with partners at the district and borough councils and trade organisations, to develop and implement plans which safeguard public health and support the re-opening of town centre businesses as lockdown restrictions are eased. Temporary measures which create safer spaces for pedestrians and cyclists have been introduced in Stratford-upon-Avon, Royal Leamington Spa and are in the process of being rolled out in Warwick and Rugby. Measures are also planned for other towns including Kenilworth, Nuneaton and Bedworth.
The schemes will help people observe social distancing by creating space for pedestrians to circulate and queue and in time for some cafes, pubs and restaurants to expand into outside space. This will enable businesses to operate and build public confidence that it is safe to return. As many small businesses will not be able to accommodate more than one customer at a time, the additional roadspace will allow queuing outside.
Cllr Les Caborn, portfolio holder for Adult Social Care and Health, has moved to praise the schemes for how quickly they have become operational and clarified the reason behind why they are being implemented. He said:
“These measures are all about making it safe for people to go into our town centres so that they can use their local retailers and town centre businesses. We recognise the value of being outside to people’s mental health and sense of wellbeing, and that going into a town centre can have a real benefit, so we have been keen to make that possible while making it physically safe.
“It was a government expectation that we took steps like this to help suppress the spread of Covid-19 at a time when social distancing restrictions are being eased.
“We understand there will be frustration with the disruption this is causing. We all want to return to normality, but we are still a long way from being in a normal situation. We have had to act decisively in taking steps to safeguard public health. It is critical that we all stay alert to the risk that this disease poses to our health and the economy. It Is critically important that we enable social distancing to avoid a rise in transmissions which, quite apart from the appalling suffering of the victims and their families, could bring a fresh round of damaging restrictions and even more devastating economic repercussions.”
Further details of the schemes are available at https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/homepage/236/changes-to-road-layouts-to-support-social-distancing