High Street to close to cars to ensure social distancing

[dutchman]

It’s one of the measures taken by the council in light of lockdown easing announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson



Coventry’s High Street will close to cars during the day to create more space for people queuing for banks and building societies, it has been announced.

Coventry City Council said the High Street has been busy during lockdown, with many people having to queue across Broadgate during peak periods.

Closing the High Street to cars from this week between 9am and 5pm daily will allow pedestrians to safely use the road space to queue, the council said.

It’s one of the measures taken by the council in light of lockdown easing announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Sunday, May 10.

His announcement that those who cannot work from home can now return to their place of work is expected to increase the number of people in the city centre.

The closure will be in place between 9am and 5pm to enable deliveries to be made after hours.

Councillor Patricia Hetherton, cabinet member for city services, said: “High Street has remained busy with people using those essential services throughout lockdown, but we’re pleased to say that most people have maintained social distancing whilst they’ve been queuing.

“However, as some areas of the city centre will begin to go back to work soon, we know this might make the city centre busier in certain areas and we want to make sure that people can still socially distance and use the city centre safely.

“That’s why we’ve decided to close High Street to cars between 9am-5pm, giving more room for people to queue up and making best use of the space available.

“The closure will also mean that people who want to pass the people who are queuing will be able to step safely into the road area to pass.

“We’ll keep this under review while we continue to monitor foot traffic around the city centre and introduce more measures to keep people safe if we need to.”

[dutchman]

I thought it was already closed to cars?

[Melisandre]

So did I

[rebbonk]

I thought it was only used for deliveries and as a taxi route? No matter, I have no reason to visit for the foreseeable.

[dutchman]

There wasn't a soul in Lloyds today but the queue outside Barclays stretched all the way to the Cov. At first I thought the queue was for the Cov!