Local MP Sally-Ann Hart has issued a statement this afternoon confirming the detailed ‘roadmap’ out of lockdown announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnston in parliament this afternoon. We reproduce Mrs Hart’s statement in full.

This afternoon the Prime Minister has laid out a roadmap out of lockdown and back to near normality by the summer, in a cautious and sensible way that follows the data rather than strict dates.

The announcement today is based on scientific data and will always be subject to review, to ensure that the new four tests are always met before a new set of restrictions are lifted.

These tests are:

The vaccine programme is continuing to be rolled successfully.

Data shows that the vaccines are sufficiently effective in reducing hospitalisations and deaths.

Infection rates do not risk putting unsustainable pressure on the NHS.

The risk assessment is not changed by new variants of the virus.

As long as these tests are met then the Prime Minister’s roadmap out of lockdown, as announced today can progress.

The roadmap set out today looks like this:

March 8th

• All pupils to return to school and further education settings, except universities.
• School clubs – breakfast clubs and sports clubs – can resume.
• You can meet up with one other person from another household for exercise and sociable reasons – continuing to maintain social distancing guidance.
• Care home residents can have one regular visitor indoors.

March 29th

• Outdoor sports can resume, including golf, tennis and outdoor team games.
• Rule of six to be reintroduced – or two households with more than six people, in outdoor settings, including private gardens.
• The ‘stay at home’ message will be dropped so you can travel to meet people outside, but no overnight stays or indoor mixing.
• Working from home to still be encouraged.

April 12th

• Non-essential retail to reopen.
• Hairdressers, beauty salons and beauticians to reopen.
• Indoor leisure facilities and gyms to reopen.
• Pubs and restaurants allowed to reopen with outdoor drinking and dining only.
• Holiday lets to reopen as long as one household staying.
• Zoos, theme parks and outdoor cinemas to reopen.
• Libraries and community centres to reopen.
• Weddings can resume.

May 17th

• Rules on gathering outdoors lifted to a max of 30 people.
• Rule of six or two households will remain indoors with social distancing.
• Cinemas and theatres to reopen.
• Pubs and restaurants allowed indoor drinking and dining.
• Hotels, hostels and B&Bs to reopen.
• Sports stadiums to reopen.

June 21st

• Hope for lifting of all legal restrictions.
• Nightclubs and large events and performances to resume.

Foreign travel not yet decided upon and will be subject to review and an announcement made at some point in April.

For the time being the message is still the same for everyone and for the majority a lot will not change until the end of March, so please do remember until then to do the following:

• Work from home unless you absolutely cannot.
• Only leave your house for essential reasons (shopping for essentials, exercise, medical appointment or work).
• Do not leave your area and travel long distances.
• Maintaining social distance with face masks, 2 metres and hand washing
• Only allowed to meet one other person from another household in a public open space for exercise.

These have been an incredibly tough 12 months, but this cautious roadmap is intended to ensure that with the successful deployment of the vaccine programme and a steady approach out of lockdown, this should be our last one.

Together we have got this far and done enormously well to get the infection rates down, reduce the deaths and ease the pressure on the local hospital. Moreover, so many people are coming forwards when asked to get their vaccine, which is a fantastic sight to behold.

Let’s keep up this fantastic effort and make this our last lockdown as we finally return to near normality this summer.The full roadmap can be found here https://www.gov.uk/…/publ…/covid-19-response-spring-2021