Council preparing for more lockdown easing and re-opening from 4 July

Following the prime minister's announcement this week that lockdown measures will be further eased from next month, Hastings Borough Council is continuing to support businesses, work towards the safe opening of more its own facilities, while urging its residents and visitors to stay safe.

Although much can re-open from 4 July, businesses can only do so if 'COVID Secure'. Throughout the phased easing of lockdown with more and more re-opening, the council has been supporting businesses, who have been working really hard to follow the new guidelines, and make sure they are operating safely. The council are here to help the businesses who can open in this new phase of easing. As part of this the council has further updated and improved the information and resources available on its website since the announcement and will continue to do so as new guidance is produced by the government.

Council leader Kim Forward said,

"As lockdown continues to ease, we must ensure that this happens safely here in Hastings, so we are urging residents and visitors to continue to take care. Our town's new full capacity is not yet what our pre-COVID-19 full capacity was. We will have to get use to things being done differently.

"While we support and help businesses to re-open, we are also working to put safety measures in place for our own facilities that will be allowed to open from 4 July, such as the West Hill Lift. These facilities will be opened as soon as we are sure they are 'COVID Secure' because the safety and well-being of residents remains at the heart of all our decisions.

"The council, like businesses, faces practical issues with the re-opening of facilities around cleaning regimes, social distancing, contactless payments and risk assessments. The 2m rule still applies. It is only where 2m is not possible that it is 'one metre plus', the plus being 'plus mitigations', such as masks and gloves, or protective screens, which involves procurement, stock and distribution challenges.

"Alongside managing the re-opening of our own facilities, and assisting businesses to do so as well, we are also still managing our response to COVID-19 and working with partners on the community hub. In addition, we are working with other councils and the Sussex Resilience Forum to prepare and plan for a potential second wave of the pandemic."