Coronavirus: Portsmouth, Portchester and Waterlooville nearby neighbours will be 'split' into tier two and tier three

Health secretary Matt Hancock has placed Portsmouth, Havant and Gosport into tier three from 12.01am Saturday as cases continue to rise and pressure builds on Queen Alexandra Hospital.

The measures are put in by council area, meaning some means neighbours on borders of the areas will be in different levels of restrictions.

This includes on the Portchester and Portsmouth border.

Portsdown Road runs north to south and has a crossroads junction with Portsview Avenue to the east, and Jubilee Avenue to the west.

People living in Jubilee Avenue are banned from seeing friends in their gardens as it comes under the Portsmouth council area and will be in tier three.

But people living in Portsview Avenue, Portchester, can gather up to six people in their garden socially distanced under tier two.

READ MORE: Confusion as Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant go into tier three

Such is the split that two homes opposite on the corners of the crossroads junction, one in Portsdown Road and one in Portsview Avenue will be in different tiers.

Businesses and homes are similarly divided in Waterlooville, which comes under both Havant Borough Council and Winchester City Council.

Number 150 in Lovedean Lane, Lovedean, will be under tight restrictions from Saturday, but just a few yards away number 156 will stay in tier two.

It’s a quirk replicated across the area’s borders with communities sitting closely together.

Meon Valley MP Flick Drummond, who represents Waterlooville, said: ‘Splitting the Meon Valley into different covid tiers is not the outcome I wanted but with infection rates so high in Havant borough and Portsmouth, I believe it is the right decision to save lives.’

READ NEXT: Portsmouth, Gosport and Havant placed into tier three coronavirus restrictions

Mrs Drummond added: ‘I would therefore urge people in tier three to please adhere to the tighter restrictions from Saturday morning and not travel to tier two unless absolutely necessary, including over the Christmas period.

‘I completely understand the frustration of pubs and restaurants in the Havant borough area of the constituency, who will suffer from this decision.

‘The only crumb of comfort I can give is that we have a vaccine and that 2021 looks a far more hopeful proposition than 2020 in terms of dealing with the pandemic.’

Check your tier on the government postcode checker gov.uk/find-coronavirus-local-restrictions

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