English councils have been granted new powers to impose local lockdown measures.
Local authorities will be able to shut down shops and cancel events in their area to control any coronavirus outbreaks.
Boris Johnson said councils in England would have the enhanced powers from Saturday, after he set out new details for “a significant return to normality” by Christmas.
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The prime minister said: “They will be able to close specific premises, shut public outdoor spaces and cancel events.
“These powers will enable local authorities to act more quickly in response to outbreaks where speed is paramount.”
Ministers will also be given extra powers, to be laid out in more detail next week, enabling them to close factories and sectors of the economy in certain regions and reintroduce bespoke stay-at-home orders.
So far, one city – Leicester – has seen stricter lockdown measures imposed following a spike in cases, while some individual premises, including a meat plant in West Yorkshire and hospital A&Es, have shut down over outbreaks.
Speaking about council’s new powers, James Jamieson from the Local Government Association (LGA) said he hoped they would make stricter measures across communities less likely.
“Locally-led responses have proven to be the best way to tackle significant outbreaks, which this framework rightly emphasises,” the chairman of the LGA, which represents council leaders, said.
“Councils know their local communities best and know how to address each unique outbreak.
He added: “Greater powers for councils to take swift and effective action to address local outbreaks will hopefully help avoid the need for more stringent measures to be imposed locally.”
Mr Jamieson added the use of enforcement powers “should be an option of last resort” and called for more “granular-level data” to be made available to councils to allow them to be “better able to act in real time to increases in infection rates”.
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Restrictions in some parts of Leicester are set to be lifted to match the rest of the country from this weekend.
Areas outside of the city of Leicester and the borough of Oadby and Wigston will see their lockdown eased slightly, so that non-essential shops, hairdressers and pubs – already able back customers elsewhere in England – can reopen from Saturday.
However, measures will stay in place for the restricted zone. Health secretary Matt Hancock has said Covid-19 rates in the city remained too high to allow pubs and restaurants to open their doors again.
Additional reporting by Press Association
