Sedgemoor – including Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge – is to be placed into Tier 2 when the Coronavirus lockdown ends next week, it has been announced today by the Government.
The health secretary said most places across the UK are to be placed into the middle level – tier two – once lockdown ends after Wednesday 2nd December.
In tier 2, the rule of six applies outdoors but there is no household mixing anywhere indoors.
Rules for Tier 2 areas:
These are the restrictions that will be in place for the Burnham-On-Sea area after December 2nd:
Meeting friends and family:
- From 2 December you will no longer be required to stay at home whenever possible.
- You will not be allowed to mix with anyone from outside your household or support bubble indoors, either in a private home or a public place.
- You can socialise in groups of up to six people outdoors – either in private gardens or public places.
- Support bubbles can be formed between one household and another which contains only one adult – with some exceptions.
- You can also form a support bubble with another household if you have a child under one, or a child under five with a disability that needs continuous care.
**UNTIL 2 DECEMBER THE NATIONAL LOCKDOWN REMAINS IN FORCE AND THE FOLLOWING RULES APPLY**
- You should stay at home except for specific reasons including education, work (if it can’t be done from home), exercise, medical needs, food and other essential shopping and to provide care.
- You should not mix socially indoors, or in a private garden, with anyone who is not part of your household or support bubble. (A support bubble is when a person living alone or with children under 18 joins another household).
- You can meet one other person at a time from another household, in an outdoors public place (such as a park, a street, countryside, an allotment or a children’s playground).
- Children under five, and disabled people who need round-the-clock care, are not counted towards the limit on two people meeting outside.
- Children can continue to move between homes if their parents are separated.
- Support groups of 15 people or fewer are allowed in certain circumstances, such as for new parents or addiction recovery.
Going to work:
- You should work at home if at all possible.
- If you have to return to your workplace, your employer must make arrangements for you to work safely.
- This advice will not change after 2 December and the end of the national lockdown.
Schools and nurseries:
- Primary and secondary schools are open, as are nurseries and childcare.
- If a school has coronavirus cases, local health protection teams will advise what to do.
- All pupils and staff in secondary schools (Year 7 and above) must wear face coverings in communal areas outside the classroom.
- Universities remain open, but students have been asked to return home for the holidays in a travel window between 3 and 9 December and complete the term online from there.
Leisure:
- From 2 December pubs and bars may open only if they are operating as restaurants.
- Alcohol may be served in pubs, bars, cafes and restaurants but only as part of a substantial meal.
- Licensed premises must be table service only, stop taking orders at 22:00 GMT and close at 23:00.
- Entertainment venues can reopen.
- Gyms and leisure facilities such as swimming pools can reopen.
- Exercise classes and organised adult sport can take place outdoors, but not indoors if it involves people from different households mixing.
- Organised activities for elite athletes, under-18s and disabled people can continue.
- Sports events and live performances can open to spectators – up to 50% capacity or 2,000 people outdoors (1,000 people indoors) – whichever is lower.
**UNTIL 2 DECEMBER THE NATIONAL LOCKDOWN REMAINS IN FORCE AND THE FOLLOWING RULES APPLY**
- Pubs, restaurants, bars and cafes are closed, except for takeaways.
- There is no limit on the time allowed for exercise outdoors or, for example, for sitting on a park bench or eating and drinking outside.
- Leisure facilities such as gyms, swimming pools, tennis and basketball courts, golf courses, fitness and dance studios, climbing walls, archery, and driving and shooting ranges are all closed.
- Entertainment venues including theatres, concert halls, cinemas, museums and galleries, are all closed.
- Hotels, hostels, guest houses and campsites are closed except in certain circumstances (such as where they are someone’s main residence, or where it is essential to stay there for work purposes).
Shopping:
- From 2 December all retail outlets can reopen.
**UNTIL 2 DECEMBER THE NATIONAL LOCKDOWN REMAINS IN FORCE AND THE FOLLOWING RULES APPLY**
- All non-essential shops are closed, including clothing and homeware stores, vehicle showrooms (other than for rental), betting shops and market stalls selling non-essential goods.
- Click-and-collect services are allowed.
- Food shops, supermarkets, cycle shops, off-licences, pharmacies, hardware stores, banks, post offices, garden centres and pet shops can remain open.
Other restrictions:
- From 2 December you will be allowed to stay overnight away from your home with members of your household or support bubble.
- Places of worship will reopen for communal services. Worshippers should not interact with anyone from outside their household or support bubble.
- Weddings, civil partnerships and receptions can take place once more, with up to 15 guests.
- You should reduce the number of journeys you make where possible, and avoid travelling into tier three areas unless necessary.
**UNTIL 2 DECEMBER THE NATIONAL LOCKDOWN REMAINS IN FORCE AND THE FOLLOWING RULES APPLY**
- You are not allowed to stay overnight away from your home, whether on holiday, in a second home or caravan, or with anyone you do not live with, or are in a support bubble with.
- You can still move home, but people outside your household or support bubble should not help with moving house unless absolutely necessary.
- You can leave home to visit someone who is giving birth or dying, to avoid or escape risk of injury or harm (such as domestic abuse), to visit someone in a hospice or hospital, to go with them to a medical appointment, or to go to the vets (or other animal welfare services).
- It is possible to visit friends and family in care homes as long as Covid-secure measures are in place.
- Weddings and civil partnership ceremonies cannot take place except where one of those getting married is seriously ill and not expected to recover. These weddings are limited to six people.
- Funerals can be attended by a maximum of 30 people. Linked ceremonial events can continue with up to 15 people.
- Apart from funerals, places of worship are only open to allow individual prayer or services to be broadcast to the congregation.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the Commons: “Hope is on the horizon but we still have further to go. So we must all dig deep.”
“We should see these restrictions not as a boundary to push but as a limit on what the public health advice says we can safely do in any area,” he added.
Find out more information on tiers, including what you can and cannot do in each tier.
Tier 1: Medium alert places
South East
- Isle of Wight
South West
- Cornwall
- Isles of Scilly
Tier 2: High alert places
North West
- Cumbria
- Liverpool City Region
- Warrington and Cheshire
Yorkshire
- York
- North Yorkshire
West Midlands
- Worcestershire
- Herefordshire
- Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin
East Midlands
- Rutland
- Northamptonshire
East of England
- Suffolk
- Hertfordshire
- Cambridgeshire, including Peterborough
- Norfolk
- Essex, Thurrock and Southend on Sea
- Bedfordshire and Milton Keynes
London
- all 32 boroughs plus the City of London
South East
- East Sussex
- West Sussex
- Brighton and Hove
- Surrey
- Reading
- Wokingham
- Bracknell Forest
- Windsor and Maidenhead
- West Berkshire
- Hampshire (except the Isle of Wight), Portsmouth and Southampton
- Buckinghamshire
- Oxfordshire
South West
- Sedgemoor, South Somerset, Somerset West and Taunton, Mendip
- Bath and North East Somerset
- Dorset
- Bournemouth
- Christchurch
- Poole
- Gloucestershire
- Wiltshire and Swindon
- Devon
Tier 3: Very High alert places
North East
- Tees Valley Combined Authority:
- Hartlepool
- Middlesbrough
- Stockton-on-Tees
- Redcar and Cleveland
- Darlington
- North East Combined Authority:
- Sunderland
- South Tyneside
- Gateshead
- Newcastle upon Tyne
- North Tyneside
- County Durham
- Northumberland
North West
- Greater Manchester
- Lancashire
- Blackpool
- Blackburn with Darwen
Yorkshire and The Humber
- The Humber
- West Yorkshire
- South Yorkshire
West Midlands
- Birmingham and Black Country
- Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent
- Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull
East Midlands
- Derby and Derbyshire
- Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
- Leicester and Leicestershire
- Lincolnshire
South East
- Slough (remainder of Berkshire is tier 2: High alert)
- Kent and Medway
South West
- Bristol
- South Gloucestershire
- North Somerset
