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

Portsdown Road, in Paulsgrove, has been sliced down the middle after it was announced that Portsmouth was moving into the highest tier three category from Saturday.

In a peculiar twist of fate, the street straddles the boundary line between Portsmouth City Council, which is facing the tightest restrictions, and Fareham Borough Council, which remains in tier two.

It means that while those on the Fareham side can still entertain a limited number of friends and family in their gardens, their neighbours living opposite on the Portsmouth side are banned from meeting anyone outside their bubble in their gardens.

Gary Goff and his wife Kathy have lived in the street since 1985 but are now bracing themselves to enter tier three restrictions.

While their friends Paul and Daphne Nicholls – who also moved into the street in 1985 – will remain in the lower category.

Aircraft mechanic Gary, 62, said: ‘It’s funny really. The whole thing is just so bizarre and confusing.

‘Our daughter, who lives in Horndean, is in tier two but by Christmas we will be in tier three.

‘Now it means we can’t all combine unless we’re having granny sat out in a field for dinner.

‘They’re leaving it up to us what we do. But we’ve had 30 years of Christmases at ours, so we don’t mind having a quiet one this year.’

Kathy added she was baffled by the new restrictions but said that despite the divide, the community would still find a way to come together.

‘When we talk to friends across the road, we tend to stand on one side of the street and shout across – so that won’t change,’ she insisted.

Neighbour Daphne, 65, was perplexed by the bizarre split of the street.

‘That’s life really, isn’t it?,’ she added. ‘It’s just unfortunate that we’re in Fareham and our virus rate is lower than Portsmouth’s.

‘It’s very difficult to make differentiations between one side of the road and the other because there’s obviously not much difference between us and them, it’s just down to a postcode lottery.’

Husband Paul, 69, added: ‘It’s just a shame it is like it is.’

Nigel Hodges, lives on the tier two side of the street and felt the rules were ‘pretty logical’.

The 58-year-old told The News: ‘They have got to draw the line somewhere – I guess it is here.

‘We can have a six-person garden party and the people across the road can’t – of course we wouldn’t do that. It is very strange.’

The new sanctions come into effect on Saturday, following an announcement by health secretary Matt Hancock yesterday afternoon.

The five-day relaxation of coronavirus rules over for the Christmas period is still going ahead, which will allow families from three households to get together over the festive season.

The restrictions will be eased between 23 and 27 December – but prime minister Boris Johnson urged people to ‘think hard’ before meeting friends and family.

Speaking at a Downing Street press conference, the PM said the rules allowing three households to meet over five days were ‘maximums, not targets to aim for’.

‘It's always going to be safest to minimise the number of people you meet,’ he said, adding: ‘A smaller Christmas is going to be a safer Christmas and a shorter Christmas is a safer Christmas.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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