Local coronavirus restrictions were tightened in the North from last Friday, but the new rules have now been turned into law.
Police can now take action against those who break the new rules, including asking people to disperse or issuing fines.
Fines start at £100 and halve to £50 if paid within the first 14 days. They’ll also double for repeat offences – so £200 if you’re caught a second time, £400 a third time, £800 a fourth, £1,600 a fifth and £3,200 for the sixth time you’re caught.
The restrictions are in place across Greater Manchester, as well as some areas of Lancashire such as Blackburn, and some areas of West Yorkshire such as Bradford.
Under the new restrictions you are advised to not:
- Socialise with people you do not live within indoor public venues such as pubs, restaurants, cafes, shops, places of worship, community centres, leisure and entertainment venues and any other visitor attractions
- Visit friends or family in care homes other than in exceptional circumstances
You can now be fined for:
- Meeting people you do not live with inside a private home or garden (excluding support bubbles)
- Visiting someone else’s home or garden even if they live outside the affected areas
- Meeting in groups of more than 30 people at once in an outdoor public space
Although the advice released on Friday regarding meeting friends and family remains the same, it does not appear in the legislation.
This means, according to the clarification released on Friday, you can meet outside a pub or restaurant in groups of no more than six, as long as that is no more than two households.
By law, your household is defined as only the people you live with.
If you have formed a support bubble (which must include a single adult household, i.e people who live alone or single parents with children under the age of 18), these can be treated as if they are members of your household and follow the new rules accordingly.
However, under the new guidance you can meet up in groups of no more than 30 people at a time in outdoor public spaces, including parks and public roads.
People in Greater Manchester, it appears, can still go on holiday, including staying in a hotel, bed and breakfast, caravan site or ‘members club’.
Greater Manchester Police has released a statement regarding the new rules. It states that they will be ‘building’ on the work put in place over the weekend which saw a Major Incident declared in Greater Manchester.
This means they are ‘monitoring the situation and will have additional resourcing in place in order to meet our overall aim of protecting our communities and keeping people safe’.
The police have said they will be continuing with their four E’s approach which sees communication and encouraging people to do the right thing first. However they do point out that if people continue to ignore the latest guidance, Fixed Penalty Notices can be issued.
It also states that every weekend police officers are being taken away from local neighbourhoods to prevent and police large gathers and ‘this is neither acceptable or sustainable.’ This comes after they had a 1,614% increase in calls related to either covid or house parties, street parties and gatherings.
The statement continues: “The message from Greater Manchester Police today is clear. People need to start taking these new restrictions more seriously; because if they don’t there is every possibility that we will see further restrictions. We want people to get behind us so that we can get through this, follow the guidance and protect the public – this will prevent us from having to take action.”
The announcement, which you can read here, finishes with a statement from Deputy Chief Constable Ian Pilling where he thanks those who are following the guidance and ‘doing their very best’.
He added: “We recognise that this hasn’t been easy, but we know that one day we’ll look back at this period of time with a huge sense of pride.”
The new legislation is set to be reviewed at least every fortnight, which means by August 19th.
You can read the full legislation here.
