Local tourism and hospitality partnership asks First Minister to share future restriction plan ‘as a matter of urgency’

A collective of Wrexham businesses have written to the First Minister Mark Drakeford urging him to make post-firebreak plans known as soon as possible.

The letter has been made public this afternoon by the “This is Wrexham Partnership”, who operate as a not for profit organisation within Wrexham County representing Tourism and Hospitality businesses.  

Part of the letter reads:

The purpose of this letter is to request an urgent update on restrictions and regulations that will be imposed on our industry once the current ‘Fire Break’ comes to an end on 9^th November, in order for our industry to begin to plan, prepare, and adapt our businesses once again.

It is simply unacceptable to expect any business in Wales to operate in the way that we are being forced to. Our industry has shown immense resilience, but we cannot continue to survive under these conditions. We need sufficient time to enable us to effectively plan for the next phase.  Businesses are being forced into making very difficult decisions about their future, and many are facing permanent closure and or making job redundancies. If restrictions in the coming weeks and months are being considered, then these should be shared as a matter of urgency to enable an informed decision.

At the lunchtime Welsh Government briefing on Monday the Health Minister Vaughan Gething was asked by WalesOnline about timelines for emerging from the firebreak lockdown, and when the public should expect to know what the rules will be.

The Minister explained, “We’re expecting over this week to engage with a range of stakeholders, and there are other conversations taking place today, tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday and beyond.”

“We’ll then expect to come together as Cabinet to agree a set of rules. We want to be in a position to give people at least a week or so to understand what the new rules are that are going to be in place. It’s really important that we have that conversation with stakeholders through this week. Then of course, we need time before the firebreak ends for everyone to understand what the rules are.”

“There’s lots of learning about how we come into the firebreak to apply that to understand that. Equally it means we’ve got to understand the advice we’re being given by scientific advisors, and the Chief Medical Officer on what a sustainable set of rules will look like, to allow people to go about to living their lives, and to be able to see more people in a different context, in a way that coronavirus doesn’t take off again.”