Portsmouth residents frustrated by 'bizarre' tier system shouldn't travel to Fareham for a pint, council leaders plead

Yesterday, the government announced that this Saturday will see Portsmouth, Gosport, and Havant enter tier three restrictions – while Fareham will remain in tier two.

The new arrangement means some areas – and even some roads – have been split between the varying levels of restrictions.

But council leaders have called for people to be patient and remember that residents must apply their area’s rules even when visiting places with fewer restrictions, which could mean avoiding open pubs and restaurants.

Portsmouth City Council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson said: ‘The advice has got to be “do what is safe”.

‘For the sake of having a pint, you don’t want to give Covid-19 to your granny.

‘Use common sense – we know this is a highly contagious disease.’

But the council leader said the tier system was undermining the overarching health message at a time when Queen Alexandra Hospital battles a rising number of Covid-19 infections.

He said: ‘It’s a very bizarre decision by the government regarding which areas are in which tiers.

‘But (for us) it is mainly driven by problems in QA – and we know that only one-third of patients are from Portsmouth.

‘Because the government has come up with such a bizarre decisions, it will be quite difficult to tell people to stick to the rules.

‘A national lockdown would be much more sensible – the tier system is not working.’

SEE ALSO: Paulsgrove road 'split in two' by new coronavirus rules with one side in tier two and the other in tier three

Fareham Borough Council leader Sean Woodward said some ‘absurdities’ over split areas were inevitable, and it was unfair for people to break the rules when visiting the borough.

He said: ‘Doing it district by district makes sense, but there will always be these absurdities thrown up.

‘People have got very, very confused. People have been saying Whiteley has a PO postcode but that doesn’t mean we’re in tier three – some people don’t know who they pay their council tax to.

‘But these rules are there for a reason and it simply isn’t fair for people to break them.

‘Things can only get better if people stick to the rules.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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