Northumberland council warns it will use enforcement against Covid rule-breakers

The authority has written to all businesses in the county providing details of the main implications of the new measures and helpful links to the information and resources that businesses will need to meet their obligations.

On September 18, it became mandatory for many businesses to have a system to collect NHS Test and Trace data, and to keep this for 21 days.

Plus, there have been a range of recent changes both nationally and in the region, which include specific new restrictions for a number of hospitality, leisure and entertainment business types.

In both indoor and outdoor licensed premises, food and drink must now be ordered from and served at a table. Licensed and unlicensed businesses must also take all reasonable steps to ensure that customers remain seated while consuming the food or drink on the premises.

There is also now a late-night restriction on operating hours for hospitality, leisure and entertainment venues which are required to close between 10pm and 5am the following day.

Juliemma McLoughlin, the council’s executive director of regeneration, commercial and economy, says: “Our business community is critical to Northumberland’s future prosperity and we want to reassure business owners that one of the council’s highest priorities is ensuring that they have the information and support they need at this time.

“This is a quickly-changing situation, which can be confusing, and we wanted to communicate with all businesses as quickly as we could to provide information and support.

“We have huge confidence in our business community, which continues to show tremendous resilience despite the challenges currently facing it. We are sure that this will continue and we want to work with them to help them to keep trading as normally as possible.

“We know that many businesses are going through an extremely difficult time at present, dealing with the impacts of Covid-19, and no one wants to see progress derailed or for them to suffer more than you already have. We will do absolutely everything we can to support them, and to make it clear that Northumberland is open for business.”

The new restrictions come as the number of positive cases in the county is ‘increasing exponentially’, according to the director of public health, Liz Morgan.

Ms McLoughlin added: “As a council, we are required to enforce the new measures, however, we wish this to be a last resort, and we want to work with businesses to ensure that they can operate safely and well during this time.

“We know that the majority of businesses are following the current rules and guidance, which we appreciate are frequently changing, and that they will continue to do so.

“However, we have to keep residents and visitors safe and therefore where it is appropriate, we will use the enforcement powers that we have been provided.”

The full range of information and support for county businesses is available at www.northumberland.gov.uk/businesshub

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