"No way out" of Tier 3 for Blackpool unless London starts to listen to Lancashire, says town's chief

That was the message from Blackpool Council’s chief executive after the government rejected a call from the authority for the town to be given Tier 2 status, which would have allowed hospitality venues to reopen.

Neil Jack said the imposition of the toughest restrictions after the lockdown ends on 2nd December was “not the right decision” for the resort and would further damage already “traumatised” business.

“I don’t think London understands Lancashire - they don’t understand the difference between the different parts of it.

“So we will definitely need to try and [have] more influence, using our MPs and politicians to make the case [for Tier 2].

“[The government] needs to listen to us more - and the people of Lancashire - more about what are the right things to do,” said Mr. Jack.

However, The Gazette understands that on a call between government officials and Lancashire council leaders yesterday afternoon, there was no indication of that ministers were willing to consider an exit strategy on a district-by-district basis.

Blackpool's Covid case rate in the week to 22nd November stood at 205.1 per 100,000 people - below the Lancashire and England averages.

Mr. Jack said that businesses had been planning in the hope of being allowed to reopen - but that the government’s own planning in relation to the new restrictions had been “very poor”.

“Businesses have expended significant sums planning what they could open up to do in December - they cannot now do that. That is very difficult for them to recover from.

“The Blackpool economy alone has been enormously hit and many businesses traumatised by the closures in October and November - and this period of time running up to Christmas is enormously important [to them]”.

The council chief also blasted the level of funding given to Blackpool to provide discretionary support to firms who will experience difficulties and a drop demand as a result of the Tier 3 restrictions, even if they are allowed to remain open.

Lancashire was given £30m for that purpose when it was first put into Tier 3 on 17th October - a period which lasted three weeks before the national lockdown began.

However, all other areas of England have since received an equivalent amount just to cover the month of the nationwide shutdown - while areas already in Tier 3 received nothing extra.

“There is no additional discretionary money available to us, even though we will be under restrictions for a much longer period.

“So the same amount of money has gone to the Isle of White, per head, as will come to Lancashire - and that isn’t defendable.

“We also need to be able to support our residents who struggle to isolate because of the nature of their jobs - the incentives to isolate are definitely not helping in some parts of our community, The government needs to help us more,” Mr. Jack added.