It has been confirmed this morning that Trafford will become the next Greater Manchester borough to have local lockdown restrictions lifted.
Trafford Labour has released a statement addressing the release within the last hour.
The statement shared with residents on Facebook reads: “A number of residents have been in contact to ask for the Council’s position on the lifting of local lockdown restrictions.
“We all want to see restrictions lifted as soon as possible, guided by the data and when it is safe to do so. Households being unable to mix in their own homes and gardens is of course extremely frustrating and difficult, and we are grateful to those who have followed the guidance and made sacrifices over the past month since local restrictions were introduced. This has contributed to a decrease in the number of cases per 100,000 people in Trafford, so thank you.
“It is imperative that when restrictions are lifted we can be confident we will not need to return to them a few weeks later because of a resultant spike in cases. That would be devastating for families, and hit our local economy hard. Whilst we accept that there will be a range of views from residents on this – and that we all want to see restrictions lifted safely as soon as possible – in line with the advice of our Director of Public Health, Trafford Council did not this week request the lifting of local lockdown restrictions.
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“Instead we asked for another week or two of local restrictions in the interests of public safety.
Timing: with schools returning next week and a bank holiday weekend over the next few days, we feel that this is a delicate time to ease restrictions. Our priority is to see children back in school safely receiving the education that they need.
The rate of infection in Trafford has been increasing slightly in the last few days.
Our current infection rate of 21.1 cases 100,000 is almost twice the national average rate of infection of 11.7.
We are inextricably linked to other boroughs in Greater Manchester with people visiting these areas on a daily basis to work and socialise. As an illustration around one third of our electoral wards – from Hale Barns in the south to Clifford in the north – share a boundary with wards in the City of Manchester: current infection rates here are 41.2.
We have seen instances of Covid identified in every one of our 21 electoral wards across Trafford at some point in the last two weeks.
“To that end, it was our view – in line with the expert advice from the Council’s Director of Public Health – that we should see evidence of a sustained reduction in Trafford’s infection numbers before calling for the lifting of local restrictions. This is not yet the case, with the last few days showing a slight increase in infection rates again.
“We understand some will consider this to have been an overly cautious approach, but it has been one made with the safety of Trafford residents in mind. Whilst we have supported calls for those businesses not yet allowed to open – beauticians, ice rinks, bowling alleys and soft play centres – we believe it is slightly premature to lift restrictions relating to households at this time.
“It is apparent that for all of their claims of working in collaboration with local authorities, the Government has decided to overrule the Council and lift restrictions in Trafford.
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“We understand this will be announced today.”
The statement by Trafford Labour can be read in full here.
This is a Breaking News story – More to follow.
News
Travel warning issued as tens of thousands to descend for Manchester Half Marathon
Daisy Jackson
A travel warning has been issued ahead of the Manchester Half Marathon this weekend, with tens of thousands of runners and spectators expected to arrive in the city.
People are being urged to plan their journeys ahead of time, with significant road closures in place from the city centre as far out as Sale.
Road closures – and subsequent bus diversions – will also affect parts of Stretford, Chorlton, Trafford, and surrounding areas.
Around 32,000 people are expected to take part in the Manchester Half Marathon this Sunday, with thousands more coming out to cheer the runners on.
Transport for Greater Manchester is advising people that the Bee Network trams will be the best way to get around over the weekend.
Extra trams will be operating to provide as much capacity as possible.
Road closures and bus diversions will start on Saturday 3 October and continue until the actual race day on Sunday 4 October, lifting fully by 8.30pm.
Tens of thousands of runners and spectators will descend on Manchester for the half marathon
Earlier this year, the Manchester Marathon led to a record-breaking day for Metrolink trams, with the highest number of passengers ever recorded on a single day in the network’s history.
Whether running or cheering, people are advised to use the Bee Network app to plan their journeys and are strongly encouraged not to drive within the affected areas.
Steve Gilholme, Head of Events at Transport for Greater Manchester, said: “The Manchester Half Marathon is another one of those special occasions where the people of Greater Manchester and beyond come together, with thousands of people taking on the challenge and raising money for good causes, while many more will line the route to cheer them on.
“This does mean the city centre and especially trams will be incredibly busy so please plan ahead and give yourself extra time to make journeys.
“The Bee Network app and website will be the best places to get the latest travel information and tap and go contactless payments are the quickest and easiest way to pay.”
You can see all the road closures for the Manchester Half Marathon HERE.
Funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), the 14 national museums of the UK are all located in England – including the Imperial War Museum North, and the Science and Industry Museum in our region – and free entry to was first introduced all the way back in 2001, with millions of visitors having benefitted since.
National museums are said to add more than £1 billion a year to the economy, and bring in visitors from all over the world.
In fact, seven of the UK’s 10 most visited museums are national museums, and 7.1 million people visited the Natural History Museum and 6.4 million visited the British Museum in 2025 alone.
The Government has announced that all national museums in the UK will remain free for everyone to visit / Credit: Science Museum Group | Wikimedia Commons
Earlier this year though, the Government committed to working with local leaders and the museum and tourism sectors to explore whether charging overseas visitors could help museums’ finances.
But following this, it’s now believed that charging could deter visitors, and that the impacts and benefits would ‘not be felt equally’ across the sector.
Instead, the free entry will be funded by the £1.5 billion Arts Everywhere Fund – which is providing £760 million for museums – while £600 million of infrastructure funding is supporting national museums and DCMS-sponsored cultural organisations.
The latter funding will be used to address critical maintenance and works to estates, and enable institutions to deliver on their commitments to share collections with visitors from around the world.
The Manc -
28th August 2020 
