Seven Pendle wards to face stronger lockdown measures

Clear recommendations will be made in due course for the six Nelson wards affected – Bradley, Cloverhill, Marsden, Southfield, Walverden, Whitefield – along with the Brierfield ward following the government announcement.

In the latest seven-day rolling figures, Pendle recorded 59 new cases in the seven days to August 17 – the equivalent of 64.1 per 100,000 people, down from 94.5 in the seven days to August 10th.

Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson said this stronger intervention in Brierfield and Nelson had been led by the data and was supported by the local authority – the same additional measures will also be introduced in Blackburn and Oldham.

"For the majority of Pendle residents, the restrictions remain unchanged," said Mr Stephenson. "However, more measures will be introduced in the seven Pendle council wards where the number of cases remains persistently high. These seven wards are the six Nelson wards (Bradley, Cloverhill, Marsden, Southfield, Walverden and Whitefield) and Brierfield ward

"After initially introducing the restrictions across whole boroughs (which was strongly argued for by northern councils), today’s announcement starts a process of focusing restrictions on a more local level.

"I strongly welcome this as I have been pushing for a more localised approach, which recognises the big difference in infection rates across boroughs like Pendle.

Ahead of next week’s review meeting (on Thursday chaired by the Secretary of State and the Chief Medical Officer) local authorities will have to come up with clear recommendations for each ward in their area. Those where the current household restrictions should be lifted and those where they should be kept. This must be driven by what the data is showing locally, but with the removal of Rossendale, Darwen and Wigan from the household meeting restrictions today, the government has shown it is keen to lift the restrictions where the data backs that up

"I spoke directly to the Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock last night and again this morning and have been in regular contact with Health Minister Nadine Dorries. I will be working with the local authorities over the coming days, to see what the data is telling us about the changes we can make to the restrictions next week."