‘Real challenge’ to reassure public as government eases restrictions

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, Steve Crow, business development director at Leeds-based law firm Clarion, said there was a lot of work to be done to create a feeling of safety for both employees and customers. “The Government has done a very good job of scaring us witless so that we’ve all done the right thing and stayed at home,” he said.

He added: “The challenge now is how do you reassure people that it’s safe to come back into our towns and city centres?”

Councils say they have been working with businesses, partners and stakeholders in the cities to implement measures ahead of non-essential businesses reopening today.

In Leeds, measures include widening pedestrian areas where possible, emergency trial pop-up cycle lanes, information signs, one-way systems through shopping centres and shops, and hand sanitiser stations.

The council has issued guidance to support businesses to operate safely, including ways to manage safe queuing systems.

A new council team of ‘city centre ambassadors’ will be on hand in the city centre to help the public, while other teams will offer assistance to keep people safe.

Some toilets in the city centre will be open, while parking in all council-managed car parks remains free of charge until at least July 4. Capacity on public transport is limited due to social distancing measures.

Chief executive of LeedsBID, Andrew Cooper, said: “Retailers and city centre managers have been preparing behind the scenes for some time to ensure that when reopening takes place people can enjoy a safe experience in their favourite shops in Leeds city centre. In these challenging times it has been great to see the positive and collaborative endeavours of retailers, landlords and street teams working together as Leeds reopens.”

Sarah Taylor, partner and head of Clarion’s regulatory team, added: “The retail industry has been working hard to get this right and it’s clear that cooperation between retailers, landlords and the council will continue to be important, especially in terms of managing the queues that may result from control of customer numbers in store.”

She said that the main challenge would be maintaining two-metre social distancing. “For now, the retail experience may look and feel different to what we’re used to. Retailers will hope that the obvious changes in layout and organisation in-store will help to reassure shoppers as they return to the city centre,” she said.