Agenda and minutes

Question:

The Powys County Times reported on 25/11/20 that Powys County Council ‘had issued a reminder to shooting businesses’ after people from England had broken lockdown restrictions to travel across the border to take part in game shooting.

Will the Council provide an update on its actions to tackle this abuse and remind businesses of their responsibility to uphold the relevant COVID-19 rules?

Response by the Portfolio Holder:

Since the commencement of enforcement activities in relation to Covid-19 there has been a huge amount of multi-agency liaison and engagement involving Police, Local Authority Public Protection Officers and other agencies.

As part of that programme police reported an issue with one game shoot in the North of the County.  As a result of that the Cabinet Member for Regulatory Services issued the reminder to game shooting businesses across Powys.  The business concerned was duly visited by Public Protection Officers and the issue of cross border travel for such purposes was raised for police patrols and enforcement officers.

To my knowledge there have been no further reported cases.

Clearly the legal position is constantly changing with a return to Tiers in England and Scotland.  Travel is permitted into Wales from Tier 1 and 2 areas of England and Scotland and shoots, like any other businesses, must adhere to the regulations here in Wales, including the restriction on numbers.