{"id":173,"date":"2021-01-08T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T12:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifenewstream.com\/?p=173"},"modified":"2021-01-08T12:00:30","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T12:00:30","slug":"covid-businesses-need-more-certainty-in-new-lockdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/?p=173","title":{"rendered":"Covid: Businesses ‘need more certainty’ in new lockdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Businesses have welcomed government cash to help them through the lockdown, but are calling for more certainty about how long it will last.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While support has been\u00a0offered in the form of \u00a39,000 grants, many firms and their owners are working out how to survive the latest lockdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sandy Needham, of West and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, said being able to plan ahead was crucial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“People want to know where they stand, and what the support is,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs Needham said some in the hospitality sector have told her that planning to open before Easter would not be worthwhile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Business leaders on the Yorkshire coast, however, are hoping to be able to open earlier, to ready themselves for the peak season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Senior, chairman of South Bay Traders’ Association in Scarborough, said parts of the resort had enjoyed a “reasonably buoyant summer” due to day trippers and holidays in the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said hospitality businesses should be able to survive until Easter, but if they were not able to open in time for that then they would be in “serious trouble”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Senior, himself a restaurant owner said, people needed time to regain confidence in going out in time for the peak season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking in favour of the grants announced by the Treasury, James Gaston, general manager of Harrogate Sports and Fitness Centre, said: “Any money is better than no money and the \u00a39,000 will definitely help us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the government needed to do more to consider people’s mental health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We should be encouraging people to stay active and healthy and we have facilities to be able to provide outdoor exercise which would be hugely beneficial for people,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The government should be trying to get places like that open as soon as possible to help promote physical health and wellbeing.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘Quietly optimistic’<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Nicola Craggs, owner of Barnsley Bowl, said she felt “more positive about the future” since the grants were announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m hoping that when we do reopen that we will be busy as families will be desperate to get out,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As long as the financial support continues to stay in place, then I’m feeling quietly optimistic about our long-term future<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advice ‘came too late’<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the grants will undoubtedly help, some feel the decision to go into a third lockdown came too late.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Becky Palfery, of independent Leeds shop and gallery Colours May Vary, said they had already decided to switch to online orders only before Boris Johnson made his announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“By the middle of yesterday I had had enough, I wasn’t happy and had already decided to close and go to click and collect,” she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“They were waiting until there was no other decision to be made.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms Palfery said she was happy with the support offered by Leeds City Council, but that government advice had come “perhaps a week-and-a-half too late.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

National lockdown measures were imposed from midnight on Monday, after the UK reported a record 58,784 Covid-19 cases, as well as a further 407 deaths within 28 days of a positive test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke after UK chief medical officers recommended the Covid threat be increased to five – its highest level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chancellor Rishi Sunak said on Tuesday the PM had acted “decisively” and “in the face of new information”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Businesses have welcomed government cash to help them through the lockdown, but are calling for more certainty about how long it will last. While support … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":174,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175,"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173\/revisions\/175"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newshouse.info\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}