The Leader of the Isle of Wight is asking everyone to do their part to keep the Island safe this Christmas, reminding Islanders that they should not travel to Portsmouth and those living in Tier 4 areas such as Pompey shouldn’t be travelling to the Island.
Councillor Dave Stewart has said it’s extremely important that Islanders follow the latest restrictions, making sure to stay local and minimise travel wherever possible.
Boxing Day plans have been thrown into turmoil as the Christmas bubble plan has been reduced to just 25th December, as previously reported by Island Echo.
Cllr Stewart has said:
“The rules are very clear: people must not go into Tier 4 areas unless they are travelling for essential reasons, such as work, education, caring for vulnerable people and to attend medical/hospital appointments. People in Tier 4 must not travel to the Isle of Wight for non-essential reasons and must not stay away overnight.
“We are already speaking to ferry operators with regards to the implications for cross-Solent travel, although neither they nor the council have the ability to enforce the no travel rule.
“We can see now the significant impact on our daily lives that a Tier 4 designation brings so we should not take our own Tier 1 freedoms for granted.
“It is vitally important everyone on the Island adheres to the new rules and continues to live with caution to #keeptheislandsafe. I would also ask that you think very carefully about your Christmas plans this year and stay local. If you had planned visitors from a Tier 4 area in your Christmas bubble then they are not allowed to visit with you.
Article continues below this advertisement “It’s crucial that we all take the necessary steps to protect the public’s health – particularly those who are elderly or clinically extremely vulnerable. It’s the right thing to do.
Speaking about the new strain of coronavirus, Cllr Stewart has added:
“This new strain of the virus seems to spread very quickly so we must be wary; making these sacrifices now could prevent an even larger spike of cases in January and February, keeping us all safer until we can get vaccinated.
“Our message today is clear – #keeptheIslandsafe. It needs you to make the right choice this Christmas and live within the guidelines.”
The tighter restrictions come after a “dramatic increase” in infections in the South East and London where in some areas, most of the new COVID-19 cases are thought to be the new variant of the virus.
For further information on coronavirus on the Island, visit www.keeptheislandsafe.org.
What an absolute halfwit,his he taking the piss, asking us Islanders again to do the right thing. You couldn’t make this up.
Usual cop-out as they cannot enforce ban on travel which should have happened last week as many DFL’s ( Death from London ) and holiday makers from various tier 3 and tier 4 area’s already here.
I wonder how they would react if we were tier 4 and the area’s they come from in tier 1, I bet things would soon change then !!
Never has this Island had such a weak, self serving bunch of cretins in control
Vote these useless and greedy beings out next time.
Just one more thing, I hope he was a better detective in his last job than he is as council leader now.
What a muppet!
Mr Stewart you say it is vital we all stick to the rules that we are not allowed to enter a tier 4 to protect our island so why are wightlink allowed to do so and bring tier 4 people over to the island your telling us what to do but doing f@$% all yourselves to help the situation
How can he preach to us islanders that we should follow the rules when they allow everyone to come here? Also why are hotels and holiday places allowing bookings from these areas? They should be told they have to cancel any bookings from these areas. And second home owners will always get away with coming over because if you have to show address id they will just show a utility bill from their home here and say it’s their main residence job done!
Too late mate, they’re already here. And weren’t listening anyway.
Dave words are no good TAKE ACTION stop tier 4 coming to the island, remember it could be you or your family that gets infected then you’ll regret doing nothing.
Well, if the Council doesn’t have the power to enforce the restrictions then it’s about time they petitioned the government to allow it. I doubt if this will be the only pandemic so we may be in the same situation in the future.
Why do sausage and co keep advertising it’s not law and nothing they can do
Exactly! It is law and if you were drunk and out of control you would get chucked off a bus or thrown out of the pub so why can’t they stop them? They are breaking the law.
A bit late on that now Dave that should of been done on saturday o no sorry i suppose the council doesnt work then sorry wrong word turn up
He always was a useless idiot
A truly incompetent fool. Talk is cheap, but our council tax isn’t, yet that is all we get, talk, no action.
It is too late with the number of new cases escalating so fast we will be in tier 4 by the end of the week. 10% of all cases since March on the island have occurred in the last week, and is still increasing faster than ever.
This so called ‘leader’ needs to go. Taking equally useless other top people, who waste our money, and are likely too cosy with untrustworthy developers and people.
Sorry but they should close all hotels & Holiday parks down & send them all home Might sound harsh I know but you cant just blame the ferry companies the hotel owners & Holiday park management are as much to blame for accepting them…. they must have made reservations so they already knew where they were coming from They should of said no sorry we cant accept you when they turned up on Saturday The Longer they stay over here for the quicker the Virus will spread. We need to protect the Island Pubs could also play their part by only serving people with proof of island Residency if they have no where to stay they will have to go home …. I await the comments for stating this
What a dim wit. Talk about teaching your grandmother to suck eggs. And he gets paid for being so condescending.
Let’s hope that people remember this next time they are asking for our vote
“OUR MESSAGE IS CLEAR – KEEP THE ISLAND SAFE” SAYS COUNCIL LEADER
Our message to the Council Leader is YOU Keep the Island Safe!
Stop all non-essential travel to the island.
Keep the FastCat and Hovercraft running for foot passengers that need to go to work, medical appointments or care.
Keep the car ferries ONLY for freight traffic or island residents that have a hospital letter and need to go to a hospital on the mainland.
Stop any other travel.
Shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted but still worth doing now.
Hi I’m a mainlander ….. I live in Tier 2 but have to obviously travel to the island through Tier 4 (Pompey) but will not be getting out of the car whilst there. I had planned to visit my daughter who lives on a remote farm so away from the populous. I also live on my own and have deliberately isolated to make this trip possible, My concern is that I cannot get stranded on the island, should passenger ferries be suspended as a keyworker and on shift from 29th …. how likely is this? I’m totally confused with his situation I only have 24hours before travel. Advice please!