Stay home this weekend!

People should not be visiting beaches like Minster leas, Shingle bank or Leysdown, or country parks like Oare, Milton Creek, Perry Wood or Barton’s Point this weekend.

We will be working with Kent Police over the long weekend to make sure people are complying with government instructions to not travel unless essential, by checking on car parks and areas of interest.

Last weekend, most people stayed away, but with the bank holidays coming up, we want to remind people that they need to be minimising the time they’re spending out of their home.

If everyone assumes it will be fine to nip to the beach or park for their exercise, it will dramatically increase the chances of coronavirus being transmitted as it is more difficult to avoid coming into contact with people.

The government have said that you should only leave the house for very limited purposes:

• shopping for basic necessities, for example food and medicine, which must be as infrequent as possible.
• one form of exercise a day, for example a run, walk, or cycle – alone or with members of your household.
• any medical need, including to donate blood, avoid or escape risk of injury or harm, or to provide care or to help a vulnerable person.
• travelling for work purposes, but only where you cannot work from home.

These reasons are exceptions – even when doing these activities, you should be minimising time spent outside of the home and ensuring you are 2 metres apart from anyone outside of your household.

We’ve had to send officers out to request camper vans parked up on the Island move on. People might think they’re isolated, but the government guidance is clear that essential travel does not include visits to second homes, camp sites, caravan parks or similar, whether for isolation purposes or holidays. People must remain in their primary residence.

Even isolated places like Shellness or the Shingle Bank should be avoided as there aren’t suitable waste or welfare facilities and people need to move about in order to get essential supplies.

Not taking these steps puts additional pressure on communities and services that are already at risk.