Second phase of social distancing in Newquay’s town centre begins on 04 July

Town and parish Councils along with local BIDs were asked by the Government at the beginning of June to lead on developing local temporary arrangements within high streets to help manage social distancing as businesses began to re-open on 15 June 2020. Following the Governments recent announcement that pubs, restaurants, and holiday accommodation are able to re-open on 04 July, Newquay will be putting further measures in place to prepare for an influx of visitors to Newquay.

Newquay Town Council have formed a partnership with Newquay BID, Cornwall Council, Cormac, the Police and others to develop a short-term plan to adhere to the Government requirements and try and prepare the Town for the 04 July re-openings.

On 08 June 2020 Newquay adopted a “keep right” system which was implemented throughout the Town Centre. Signage asks all residents and visitors to try to keep to the right-hand side of the road. Newquay Town Council would like to remind residents and visitors to please continue to observe these social distancing measures in Newquay’s Town Centre, whilst bearing in mind the below further measures.

The following further measures will be implemented from Saturday 04 July:

• Most of Bank Street will be closed for vehicles between the hours of 11am-4pm with the option to close one hour earlier or later if footfall demands. The road closure has been extended for Bank Street through to Island Crescent junction (Emergency and residential access will be facilitated) with a diversion in place from Central through to Island Crescent.
• There are hand sanitisers located on public toilets.
• Accessible toilets have been re-opened, these are for anyone to use and not just for people with accessibility issues. We will continue to work on re-opening full facilities as soon as we meet the covid secure requirements.
• There will be marshals around town to help with the social distancing messaging and to keep everyone safe.

Andrew Curtis, Town Clerk, commented: “These measures remain under constant review. A detailed review meeting will take place next week to evaluate how the measures are working so far as part of Phase 2 and whether this is now the plan for the rest of the season, or whether more/less is needed.”

Mayor of Newquay Louis Gardner added: “As we enter the next phase of easing of restrictions, the Town Council have engaged with the business community in order to make our town as safe as it can possibly be. There is a balance to be struck between welcoming visitors back to our town and maintaining the safety of residents and visitors alike. The Town Council will continue to keep all measures aiding social distancing under review and we remain ready to respond to any suggestions or changes which need to be implemented in order to get the best possible solution for our town over the coming days, weeks and months.”

Carla – Marie Jones, Newquay BID Manager says: “We would like to take this opportunity to thank businesses for their continued cooperation in adhering and implementing this plan and for playing their part in ensuring Newquay can build back better – By temporarily removing promotional A-boards and for managing and adapting their own premises and boundaries in line with COVID compliance, often with short deadlines over the past few weeks to ensure Newquay is seen to be COVID compliant and a safe destination to visit, especially when we are expecting an increased footfall this coming weekend with the phased re-opening of accommodation providers and hospitality industry. We wish you all a safe, enjoyable and profitable re-opening weekend and we are keen to ensure that businesses are at the heart of shaping any future town wide safety plans, so please do keep sending us your ideas, suggestions and feedback. Stay safe.”

Newquay Town Council and partners aim to work together to support the local businesses, whilst keeping residents and visitors to Newquay as safe as possible. Please do not hesitate to contact the Town Council at office@newquay.town if you have any questions about the plan or if you have any ideas or suggestions to put forward.

Thank you for working hard to ensure Newquay remains a safe place to work, live or visit – we cannot do this without everyone working together.

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