Buckinghamshire to enter Tier 3 local restrictions on Saturday 19th December 2020
Buckinghamshire is to enter Tier 3 local restrictions from Saturday 19th December 2020.
The Government has announced that Buckinghamshire must move into Tier 3 local Coronavirus restrictions from 00.01am on Saturday 19th December 2020. Tier 3 is the very highest level of coronavirus restrictions in England.
The decision follows a Tier review of the Tier areas by the Government which was published on Thursday 17th December 2020.
Buckinghamshire will now be in the same Tier as other areas around London including Essex, Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Berkshire all of whom were previously in Tier 2.
The main restrictions of Tier 3 include:
- Hospitality venues will have to close, except for delivery and takeaway service.
- Hotels and other accommodation providers must also close, except for specific work purposes where people cannot return home.
- Outdoor sports, including golf and tennis, will be allowed to continue as will amateur team sports such as football. Unlike the first two tiers, spectators will not be allowed to watch sport in tier 3.
- People must not meet socially indoors or in most outdoor places with anybody they do not live with, or who is not in their support bubble; this includes in any private garden or at most outdoor venues.
- At outdoor spaces such as parks or beaches people must not socialise in groups of more than six.
- Everyone who can work from home should do so.
- You can continue to travel within your area for work, education and purposes of providing care or medical assistance, however you should avoid travelling outside your area and reduce the number of journeys you make wherever possible.
- If you live in a tier 3 area, you must continue to follow tier 3 rules when you travel to a tier 1 or tier 2 area. The government does not recommend that you travel into a tier 3 area, for example, to do Christmas shopping.
Full details of what the Tier change means can be found on the Government website for Tier 3 restrictions at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tier-3-very-high-alert.
Buckinghamshire Council Leader, Martin Tett, said: ‘So soon after the good news about the vaccine roll out, If anyone needed a reminder about how serious a threat coronavirus remains, then this is it.
We’ve seen cases sharply rising again locally which is clearly the wrong direction and going into Tier 3 now brings additional restrictions and pressures, particularly for our local economy, that nobody wanted to see.
This definitely isn’t the news we wanted, but we’ll continue working with our Members of Parliament, the Buckinghamshire NHS and local business organisations to understand the full implications for our residents, our businesses and of course for people’s health and wellbeing.
It remains imperative that everyone in Buckinghamshire follows the rules laid out, This is going to mean difficulties, tough choices and personal sacrifices particularly over the Christmas and New Year period. But, it’s the best way to beat Covid-19, get infection rates down and for the country to gain back the upper hand against this deadly virus.‘
*Source of article : Press release from Buckinghamshire Council.
