Local lockdowns could stigmatise towns and bring economic decline, advisers warn

Local coronavirus lockdowns could stigmatise towns, drive away visitors and damage property prices, Government advisers have warned.

The Scientific Pandemic Influenza Group on Behaviours (SPI-B), a sub-group of Sage, wrote a report in July arguing that long-term economic decline could be an unintended consequence of shutting down individual towns.

The concerns appear in a report released in a tranche of Sage papers on Friday. The authors warned that an area identified as a Covid-19 "hotspot" may become known as "a place to avoid" for fear of contracting the virus.

"Reduction in travel to and through that area will further depress local finances, through reduced business takings and local taxation, resulting in higher reliance on funds from central Government," they wrote.

"Intention to avoid travelling through or returning to a previously contaminated area has been noted in prior studies.

"If economic decline ensues, people will be less likely to visit the area. An area that people do not want to visit will become an area in which people do not want to live. If families no longer move there or current residents move away, the area will suffer long term economic damage."

No new local lockdowns were imposed this week, but restrictions on household gatherings will continue in parts of the north-west, West Yorkshire, east Lancashire and Leicester.

Some locked down areas will also be excluded from Saturday's reopening of casinos, skating rinks, bowling alleys, exhibition halls, conference centres and indoor play areas.

Pools, indoor gyms and other leisure facilities, as well as nail bars, spas and beauty salons, will continue to remain closed in Bradford, Blackburn and Leicester.

The Government said there had been a continued rise in coronavirus cases in Oldham and Pendle, while numbers remain high in Blackburn with Darwen (see video below).

Edward Argar, the minister for health, said the measures would be reviewed again next week.

"It is essential we all remain vigilant, and I urge everyone in these areas to follow the rules – wash your hands regularly, follow social distancing, get yourself a free test as soon as you get any symptoms and isolate if NHS Test and Trace tells you to," he said.

"We will keep all local restrictions under constant consideration, including ahead of any formal reviews.

"As part of ensuring a proportionate yet robust response to the virus, where possible, the Government will remove individual areas from these measures while maintaining or even strengthening measures in others as necessary – just as has been done in other areas where local measures have been brought in, such as Leicestershire."

The SPI-B group also warned that shutting businesses would impact local government finances, meaning less money to spend on services.

It advised against using the term "local lockdown" because that had left residents of Leicester feeling "ashamed" and "punished".

"The intervention was highly divisive," said the behavioural experts. "People felt that they had been 'forgotten' but also had become the 'Lepers of Leicester' or the 'Pariahs of Leicester'.

"They felt 'ashamed' and like a 'laughing stock' because they were still in lockdown after the national day of lessening of restrictions on July 4. The lockdown, because of its name and its targeting on Leicester, was understood as a 'punishment'."

Newark and Sherwood, in Nottinghamshire, has been added as "areas of concern", the Government said on Friday while Eden, in Cumbria, is being removed thanks to a drop in cases.