Localised restrictions likely in Pembrokeshire

MORE localised restrictions – rather than county wide –could be the likely choice if further lockdown measures are required in future.

Discussing the latest work of Pembrokeshire County Council’s Covid-19 recovery work members of the corporate overview and scrutiny committee asked what the increase in cases in England and other parts of Wales could mean for residents here.

Head of environmental services and public protection Richard Brown said on Tuesday (September 10), in response to questions from Cllr Michael John about “targeted restrictions” that a whole county approach had been taken in Caerphilly.

But, whether the restrictions were “proportionate and necessary” would be a key consideration if such action was required he added.

“If say there was an issue in the Milford Haven area you would have to go on to question whether St Dogmaels, Fishguard or St Davids would be included in that,” said Mr Brown, adding that there was regular liaison with Dyfed Powys-Police, Public Health Wales, Welsh Government and the health board about a changing situation.

“We are not out of the woods yet, if anything we seem to be getting into a slightly darker place. It is likely at some stage we will have issues we have to deal with here in Pembrokeshire, that’s being realistic not alarmist,” he said.

The council’s track, trace and protect system is up and running with more staff expected to be needed in future, with those already working being taken from positions.

Since the last update in June an ‘operational room’ was set up to deal with incidents and complaints, to support the opening up of tourism with around 600 incidents dealt with, the committee heard.

Although incidents are reducing Mr Brown said the biggest issues was amount of visitors coming combined with the difficulties many businesses had in accommodating people and ensuring social distancing measures, which led to increased rubbish, social distancing complaints and other issues.

The impact on the hospitality trade in future months was also of concern along with an increase of demands on the public protection service which would require additional funding.

“Considerable” Welsh Government support was highlighted by cabinet member for finance Cllr Bob Kilmister who said that £5.96million had been provided so far, as well as more than £3million for lost income, including a £466,000 furlough claim.