Coronavirus: Lockdown restrictions to be lifted in parts of Greater Manchester, Lancashire and West Yorkshire

Local councillors complain their fears are ‘unheard’ and that hospital leaders were not told of changes

Coronavirus lockdown restrictions will be lifted in parts of Greater Manchester, Lancashire and West Yorkshire, the Department of Health and Social Care has announced, despite pushback from local authorities who claim to have been “overruled” by Westminster.

The department said incidence rates had fallen across a number of areas including Bolton, Stockport, Trafford, Burnley and Hyndburn, leading to an easing of rules that banned gatherings of more than one household in homes and private gardens.

However, local authorities have argued their frontline experience has been ignored by the government, with councillors accusing Matt Hancock's department of paying more attention to local Conservative politicians than council officials.

Ahead of the announced easing Calderdale councillor Josh Fenton-Glynn wrote on Twitter that the authority’s “leadership, chief exec and public health team” had received no notification of the incoming changes. He also claimed that the government “seem to have briefed the opposition Conservative group & many papers”.

Meanwhile Trafford’s Labour councillors, who have overall control of the authority, said their calls for lockdown to remain in place following advice from their own public health officials had been left unheard.

“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”, the Labour party's local branch said in a statement.

“Consistently the Tories have undervalued and underfunded our work in leading the response to the pandemic: now it is clear that we are left unheard as well.”

Parts of Bradford excluding Bradford city and Keighley town, parts of Calderdale excluding Halifax, and parts of Kirklees excluding Dewsbury and Batley are also due to see measures lifted when the rule change comes into force on 2 September.

The regions across the north west of the country were among those told they would no longer be able to mingle with other households in homes or private gardens in late July after an increase in virus transmission was recorded in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and east Lancashire.

But despite pockets of progress a weekly meeting of local emergency officials chaired by health secretary Matt Hancock agreed restrictions will continue in some areas including the City of Manchester, Salford, Rochdale, Bury and Tameside.

And residents in Oldham, which has been particularly hard hit by the recent outbreak of the virus, have been advised to continue to avoid mixing with people from other households altogether.

The region is home to the second highest rates of the virus in the country according to government figures, with 67.1 cases per 100,000 people – however local officials pushed back strongly against a lockdown as restrictive as that seen in Leicester over fears it could cause irreparable damage to the town’s economy.

In a statement Matt Hancock, the health secretary, wrote: “We brought in measures to protect people in these parts of northern England, and I want to thank residents who have worked so hard to get on top of this virus.

“We’re seeing the positive results of our local approach, and are able to bring in increasingly targeted measures.

“It is vital we can maintain this good progress. I have every faith people across the county, especially in areas where we are seeing higher numbers of cases, will continue to play their part by following local rules, and self-isolating and requesting a free test as soon as they get any symptoms.”

Additional reporting by Press Association