[My apologies, first version of this post yesterday did not take account of latest advice from the Covid-19 Advisory Group. This has been corrected and post also updated to reflect what is going on in North Lanarkshire]
This post takes a look at how Public Authorities have been applying the Health Protection (Coronavirus) (Restriction) Regulations (Scotland) 2020 to open spaces and what this says about their attitudes to outdoor recreation by the public.
Glasgow City Council
The “Our Parks are open” betrays an attitude. Council Officers don’t see the City’s Parks as belonging to the people, rather they are treated like a corporate asset. Such attitudes have promoted the state sell-off of greenspace in Scotland, all the way through from the sell off of school playing fields in the Thatcher era to Flamingo Land (see here). Now, Councils are trying to impose unprecedented controls about HOW remaining public open space is used.
The banner includes two sensible public health messages about stopping the spread of Covid-19, the need to maintain physical distancing – along with illustrative arrow of what 2m looks like – and the “please wash your hands as soon as you get home”. It can be easy enough to forget to do that. The rest of the text is legally muddled, unhelpful and its status unclear.
The statement that the City’s Parks “are open for exercise and active travel only” effectively means unelected Council Officers are saying that the public cannot go into one of the City’s Parks for their own mental well-being, whatever the need and whatever the circumstances. That is draconian.
The legal problem and the legal muddle arises because mental health and well-being are not included in the non-exhaustive list of reasonable excuses for leaving your home set out in the Restriction Regulations. Only Physical Activity is listed. This doesn’t mean that taking a child out to look at the ducks might not constitute a reasonable excuse, but the problem is that the onus is on the person going out to prove that what they are doing is reasonable. That is having terrible mental health consequences for people who are staying at home because they are not confident about standing up to the police if challenged on matters such as sitting out on the grass in their local park or who are worried about the vigilantes clyping on them. The Scottish Greens have provided a clear explanation of the issues and called on the Scottish Government to clarify the position (see here). The Green MSP, Andy Wightman, wrote to Scottish Ministers about this three weeks ago (see here) so the Scottish Government have no excuse for not changing the regulation s when they review them this week.
Meantime, while Glasgow City Council has not gone so far as the Scottish Governmen,t who claim that Physical Exercise should be only once a day and only for an hour, they have gone further than what the law says. Like the government and our National Parks, Council Officers appear to have forgotten all their policies on the importance of parks and open space. The most recent such policy in Glasgow was the Open Space Strategy approved in FEBRUARY this year (see here). This emphasised the importance of open space for PLAY (on the recommendation of Harry Burns, Scotland former Chief Medical Officer), EDUCATION and EXPERIENCING NATURE. None of those things count as Physical Exercise. The potential role of parks in home schooling during the crisis appears to have been totally ignored.
In Glasgow almost all power has now been handed to unelected officials under the nominal oversight of a greatly reduced Administration Committee of Councillors. At their last meeting on 23rd April, a paper listed the main delegated decisions that had been made by these officials (see here). There was no mention in this that public use of Parks would be restricted. The attempt to curtail the use of the Council Park was also contrary to the Council’s approved Management Rules for Parks (see here) as these have not been suspended or rescinded. They allow a wide range of activities. So much for governance and democracy.
As a final illustration of the legal muddle, it’s worth noting that “active travel”, which the Council’s banner says is allowed in its parks, is not necessarily legal under the Covid-19 restrictions. For example, you might walk or cycle through your local park go to some house party……………indeed about the only way to get to such a party is probably by active travel!
The Council would have been far better just restricting itself to the essential public health messages. Thankfully, the people who haven’t been frightened and intimidated by the Scottish Government into staying in their homes, are ignoring both the Government and the Council’s advice and continuing with a wide range of non-physical activities in the City’s parks. Thankfully too, the police are generally more sensible than our government, though last weak a reader commented on how he had been challenged FOR TAKING PHYSICAL EXERCISE in my local park – he had set up exercise rings on a tree and the police objected to pull-ups! He is now armed with a copy of the regulations……….
Urban citizens locked in
Yesterday was my birthday and I thought, for the first time in six weeks, I might try driving out to one of the open spaces close to Glasgow and going for a walk. I found that almost all have been shut off like Pollok Park (see here).
Whitelee windfarm is the nearest such large space to where I live and has no less than 130kms of tracks – the biggest path resource next to Glasgow. The only car park is closed. Fine, if you are reasonably fit and able to cycle uphill from Glasgow to get to the tracks (30 miles round trip from where I stay) but this resource has been put out of touch of everyone else.
A little closer to the city East Renfrewshire (see here) has closed the car parks in their parks “to prevent people driving to them and ignoring the stay at home guidance”. At least they don’t set out any further restrictions beyond “You should also adhere to the rules of social distancing and not gather in crowds.” So it looks like they are happy for you to visit their parks for purposes other than exercise. As an added bonus the disabled toilet facilities at Rouken Glen (like those in Pollok Park) remain open.
Over in the North West Mugdock country Park is also closed to vehicles. A reader last week alerted me that the access roads have been fenced off making it really difficult for bikes to get through and that this large open space was almost entirely deserted. No-one exploring, experiencing or enjoying. What a failure but hardly surprising if you cannot get there. Mugdock, like Whitelee, is accessible to few people on foot.
A little further away, the Regional Park in Clyde Muirshiel has also closed its main car park. A “Park for the People” no longer. This is another huge open space that is now only readily accessible for people living along the Clyde in places like Greenock.
Balloch Country Park may be “one of the finest public spaces in the West of Scotland” but it too has been put out of bounds for most. Car parks located by other open spaces have also been closed by West Dunbartonshire Council.
Its the same over in South Lanarkshire.
[Unfortunately, this para was incorrect. See comment below. It appears that North Lanarkshire is the only Council that has not bothered to update to update their website!]. (The ONLY Local Authority that has, as far as I have been able to establish, acted with any sense over this is North Lanarkshire Council. They appear to have put no restrictions in place at either Strathclyde or Drumpellier Country Parks, despite the row about the number of visitors to Strathclyde Country Park that took place early in the crisis. If that’s true they deserve congratulations………………and are the only public authority around Glasgow that appears to understand the importance of outdoor recreation.)
In effect what has happened is that an unjustifiable exclusion zone has been placed around most of Glasgow and the adjacent urban areas. This has been designed with the explicit purpose of stopping people going outdoors to the safest places for outdoor recreation.
The issues are well illustrated from this map from the Glasgow City Council Open Spaces Strategy approved in February this year:
Large parts of Glasgow had insufficient open space even BEFORE the corona crisis. The crisis has increased the demand for open space and I would hope that the space assessments will now be revised in the light of the crisis. Glasgow City Council’s signs provide the case for this. Officials clearly don’t believe there is at present enough space in the City to allow people to go out for their mental well-being. So much for Glasgow being promoted as the dear green place…….we clearly need a lot more space. Re-classify the light green spaces as orange and you will get some idea of the extent of the challenge.
The west of Glasgow is particularly poorly provided for open space and the nearest places people could go outside the city boundary, Mugdock, Kilpatrick Hills and Balloch have ALL had their car parks closed. Reports I have had are that cycle ways and canal paths in the west of the City are particularly packed. Its the only way to get out or get somewhere approaching decent greenspace.
I found the same yesterday. I decided to bike down to Lochwinnoch from the southside. I have never seen the cycle path so busy (I sometimes take the train out to Lochwinnoch and run back). While that was great to see, and almost everyone was making a real effort to keep their distance, its only happened because of our government’s curtailment of civil liberties. The ironic thing is that IF there is any significant risk of people passing on the virus when outdoors – which is what government claims to be concerned about – they have made this more likely by concentrating people into certain places and onto certain routes. Strangely enough, the longer I was out and the longer I ignored the government’s advice to limit physical exercise to one hour, the fewer people I came across and the safer presumably, according to their logic, I got.
And over in Edinburgh……………
Longniddry car park – which could have helped relieve pressure in Leith, one of the most densely populated places in Scotland
The Pentlands Regional Park is another huge open space that should have played a key role in the crisis helping people to get outdoors. It has been made almost completely inaccessible.
Similar advice to Glasgow but note the “don’t stop to eat or drink” – advice worthy of a dictatorship. If this was in North Korea or the old eastern block countries our media would have had a field day. They have, mostly, been silent.
And this is a great example of blaming people for daring to go outdoors for their health:
– and what exactly is the risk of catching Covid-19 in the hills?
– and what did our Regional Parks and public authorities do to try and manage the numbers of visitors going out? .
– and in terms of reduce the pressure on emergency services what about the epidemic of ill-health, both physical and mental, which has contributed to the spike in death rates? How many people have died in Pentlands Regional Park over the last ten years? (A heart attack or two I guess).
– and as for farmers being worried (see here)is a single one of those concerns justified by evidence?
The cordon sanitaire isn’t just around our two biggest cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh, though they illustrate the size of the issue best. The curtailment of civil liberties to go outdoors is across Scotland, from dense urban areas to small rural settlements. Nowhere does it make any sense.
What needs to happen (NB this updated since first published)
The Scottish Government this week refused (in response to a question from Neil Findlay MSP) to release the evidence about the transmission of the Covid 19 evidence being considered by its Advisory Group. The minutes, however, are recorded and that of 30th April stated that the Group was going to look at further evidence about the virus being spread outdoors. I was sceptical that anything would happen, however this is recorded for 4th May:
1. The Advisory Group discussed the evidence from SAGE [the UK Scientific Group for Emergencies] regarding outdoor transmission and agreed that, as the risk seems to be significantly lower than indoors, and the evidence is clear for the benefits of spending time outside, considering existing guidance on exercising outdoors as part of the overall consideration of any change to existing restrictions is advisable.
2. The group agreed that clear messaging would be very important to avoid confusion in the case of any change. In particular, the message must be clear that people must still maintain distance and that hand hygiene and cough / sneeze etiquette would be more important than ever.
At last some common sense/good science!
What our governments should do this week, as the first safe step towards release lockdown, is:
- Amend the regulations to allow people to go outdoors, whether it is for their physical or mental health, so long as physical distancing is observed. This should encompass ALL activities covered by access rights
- Amend all guidance that recommends the time people should spend outdoors is limited
- Allow other outdoor activities, where Physical distancing can be observed, from sports like golf to work in the countryside to re-start
- Relax the travel ban by allowing people to travel a reasonable distance to be outdoors (the Police Advice in England which advises that the travel time should be shorter than they time you spend outside seems perfectly reasonable)
- Order all public authorities to open up their car parks again and put management arrangements in place where necessary to keep people safe in visitor hotspots.
- Re-open all public toilets to allow handwashing
Unfortunately, I am not convinced this will happen. The lockdown is being used by our governments to heap responsibility for all the deaths in the UK and Scotland onto the people, rather than taking responsibility for their own failures. Apart from crowded places like sports stadiums and railway platforms, where physical distancing couldn’t be observed, the number of cases where the virus has been transmitted outdoors will have been minimal. Close contact or presence and hard surfaces that people touch regularly are the main reasons why the virus transmits. The restrictions on people going outdoors have never been justified. But they help divert people from the long list of our governments’ failures which have caused and are still causing so many unnecessary deaths: care homes, the lack of PPE in hospital and care settings, allowing people into the country from airports without so much as a temperature check, the failure to set up contact tracing teams etc.
Because of this please consider lobbying MSPs and making them aware of the Advisory Group’s advice that the restrictions on being outdoors could be safely relaxed so long as Physical Distancing is observed.
As the weeks roll on there have been two suicides (young people with whole life in front of them)in my town and an attempted armed robbery but we are too fragile to ease restrictions there’s big cracks in the pot the water is boiling and the gas is at full peep you better at least remove the lid
The Covid -19 isolation imperative,for the vast majority of the population across Scotland, is now said to be under review.Reports of some Proposals being tabled allow for some degree of relaxation this next week..
Further north and west, whole communities have been compelled to exist in an unreasonable limbo of central indecision. Truth be told, as direct consequence of measures taken and careful measures locally, there is no virus in these remoter places. It could well get here via the transport network eventually, but that is another issue. People in these communities are used to guarding against incomers, and now thanks to an early outcry concerning freewheeling camper vans, holiday accommodation remains closed. Outdoor activity premises and those individuals who offered courses and activity training are now furloughed or – in all but name- bankrupted. All this ‘pain’ simply to protect the denser populations in urban areas ?
In our case, in common with most who live here ,we have made just 2 visits away from home to a major centre to bulk shop in the past 7 weeks. Back at home we meet almost no one, and see a handful of neighbours in the distance. Yet there is overwhelming suspicion of all, engendered by the lockdown regulation rules. Weeks on our own, seeing almost no one should be considered. In no way is this a risk to any other person. It is not like a person who has worked everyday away from home. This new -age fear of strangers has manifested recently with open community hostility towards a person who lives full time moving at will , while isolated on a yacht . When he turned up at one Highland harbour to do routine shopping after weeks on his own..he was reported to the Police.
There is absolutely no way to demonstrate to anyone that a person has been in isolation with no opportunities for social contact for many weeks.
And yet, authorities on the eve of lock-down were keen to let it be known that Physical distancing ( variously 2 mtrs in Uk, 1.5 mtrs in much of Europe and the WHO saying 1 mtr ! ) with lengthy hand washing ,employing an alcohol based fluid was the main way to avoid spreading infection.
Across the highlands, everyone was initially eager to do their bit, by self isolating in a socially responsible way, They could see it was necessary to allow the Scottish NHS to prepare. The main truth about this virus remains inevitable – almost unspoken : Everyone will and must become exposed to this virus eventually. Around the world over the past 7 weeks nations have managed to confirm there is little incidence of infection in remoter communities provided everyone remains among and interacting with close groups, close to home. Those who live in one remote isolated community present little risk to those similarly isolated within other remote communities . The justification for denying more social contact in the remoter regions in Scotland, now the NHS is as prepared as it can be, can only be the consequence of a ‘centralist’ mindset…in some denial of realities of life within distant places.
My apologies for arrangement of text . The double space tab seems to have won !
Hi Tom, I agree but unfortunately people will become even more scared by the tragedy at Home Farm Care Home on Skye. The reasons for that need to be explained – brought in by a worker, not their fault – lack of testing – and then spread around home because people are in such close proximity (and it appears staff may not have had PPE). A campervan coming to the Highlands – like your yacht owner – is not going to pose any appreciable risk even in local shops (as long as normal rules for shopping observed). However, if the local shop keeper didn’t want to risk this people could always tell visitors whether camping, campervans or staying in self-catering – all of which maintain social isolation – to bring their own food. We somehow need to address the irrational fears while addressing the issues that really matter. Nick
And what about those of us who live on the fringes of an urban area but who, because of our circumstances, have had no close physical contact with anyone since mid-March except when we drive to the supermarket for our shopping once a fortnight? I live alone, do what little work I can still do online, and glimpse neighbours from a distance in their gardens on occasion. Yet if I drove somewhere to climb a hill, even nearby, I would probably be pilloried for it . For that reason I have been sticking to tracks in my local area, accessible from my front door. I haven’t even been up on the Campsies, my local hills. I’ve heard of people living in much more remote locations who are going for regular walks with their friends while respecting physical distancing measures. I have no problem with that, they are responsible people; but I can’t help resenting the fact that, despite my current isolation, I will probably be made to feel that I can’t decently travel anywhere even when restrictions start to ease. Up until now I have consoled myself with the thought that I will, eventually, get back to the places I love. Now, however, I begin to wonder whether this government will allow foreign travel before it allows people back out into the countryside. I speak as someone who goes to the hills for my mental health, not just “exercise”.
Until this week, Holyrood Park in Edinburgh had its car parks open and a sign up saying charges suspended. Lots of older people as well as families made use of this. Then, on Monday I cycled past and found all car parks blocked off. Shame on the park authorities!
I’ve had two interesting experiences this week. I had to make a visit to my 90 year old father in Perth at the weekend to take heavy items of shopping his carer can’t manage. I then followed him as he drove his car to a nearby wood, parked in an unblocked (but officially closed) carpark and walked 15 minutes along a path, rested on a bench and walked back. He stopped to look at primroses, saw an 87 year old friend and swopped news and then returned home. Yesterday, I walked out along the sea wall at Newhaven in north Edinburgh. Every 15 metres there was someone or a couple sitting and watching the sunset. When the sun was down, people began leaving, heading back into the streets and blocks of flats. Neither in Perth not at Newhaven did I see anyone allow themselves to get closer than 3 or 4 metres.
We should be scared of the virus but we’ve been told how it’s transmitted so we know what to do.
The consequences of stoking irrational fears are obvious in the highlands – only this morning a roofer called in to do emergency repairs felt he had to go on social media to prepare the inhabitants of Lochinver for his arrival (this came after a gif of people grabbing pitchforks was posted in response to news of another roofer coming to Inverkirkaig).
Unless it has changed very recently North Lanarkshire is just the same as the rest. Drumpellier is closed, also Auchinstarry Quarry car park and the Marina car park so Croy Hill and surrounding paths are also effectively unavailable.
I don’t know about Strathclyde park but had heard it was closed and residents of the surrounding streets were reporting people parking there for breaking restrictions.
To clarify, Drumpellier is closed to vehicles. (and the visitor centre closed before the car parks so no toilet facilities.)
Channel 4 news is showing how incompetent the authorities have been on may 5 channel 4 did a interview with some one from the care industry who stated the hospitals sent infected patents back to care homes against care homes advice people in government should be lossing their jobs even tonight 7 May it’s shocking what channel 4 have revealed. Nicola Surgeon won’t even reply to questions and she is having her hair professional done is this right And how can it be right that I can take a train to England but I can not do self isolation in my own car and drive to England if I use a train I need to share with others putting us all at risk Right now 60 percent of the care homes are infected this is were the prombem is not the general public pubs clubs restaurants football concerts public buildings are all shut general public are not spreading it as our governments would have us believe it. But still airplanes are still landing with people who then walk out the airport and into taxes. Cycles are out cycling upto 100 miles daily but if you fish by the river your breaking the lock down
It must never be admitted that there is no risk of infection from travelling in your own private vehicle because that would draw attention to the fact that the opposite is true of their precious public transport.
Don’t use your car for non essential journeys but remember to pay your road tax suckers
Have a good look at the police officers the are haveing haircuts while the rest of us look like big foot rights what rights
Closing car parks is indirect discrimination.
People at high risk in the shielding group must be able to park to exercise safely in remote areas where they will be able to stay away from other people.
https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-staying-at-home-and-away-from-others/pages/exercise/
Travel
Unnecessary travel should be avoided, so exercise should be done in your local area. You should not drive to beauty spots, parks or beaches.
However, if you (or a person in your care) have a specific health condition that requires you to leave the home to maintain your health – including if that involves travel beyond your local area – then you can do so. For example, this could include where individuals with learning disabilities or autism require specific exercise in an open space.
If you have a disability and need to travel a bit further to appropriate outdoor space where you can exercise safely, you can do so. For example, if you use a wheelchair you can travel to a location that has accessible parking and level access.
I’M AFRAID YOUR MISINFORMED IN RELATION TO NORTH LANARKSHIRE. HERE NLC ERECTED BARRIERS ON BLAIR ROAD. I AS YOU CORRECTLY NOTED, PEOPLE, AND CERTAINLY MORE THAN A FEW HERE FINDING LOCKDOWN AFFECTING THEIR MENTAL HEALTH AND RESORTED TO WALKING – WHERE THEY COULD. WE NEED TO GET TO DRUMPELLIER PARK FROM BLAIR ROAD. WHY ARE NORTH LANARKSHIRE BLOCKING THEIR TAXPAYERS ACCESS. PLEASE ADVISE WHAT ACTION WE CAN TAKE.
I have had a quick look and while North Lanarkshire Council say they publish traffic regulation orders – which are needed to close roads – I cannot find them. You could therefore contact the roads dept and ask them the legal basis for closing the road. Under the Coronavirus Act Temporary TROs could be used to close or narrow roads for cars to make more room for pedestrians and cyclists. Nick