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news
coronavirus - cyclists rides past social distance warning“Stay local” – What the latest lockdown laws and guidance mean for you and cycling
The escalation in the number of cases of coronavirus over Christmas and New Year has led Prime Minister Boris Johnson to announce a new lockdown in England, effective from today; while in Scotland, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has outlined new measures that have come into effect there today. British Cycling says it is seeking urgent clarification from the government about what “Stay local” means for people in England when it comes to riding bikes for exercise; but according to the latest amendments this appears to be guidance, not law.
> Recovering from long COVID - a cyclist's guide
Here’s a brief summary of what the latest rules in England and Scotland, plus the existing ones in Wales and Northern Ireland mean for cycling, with a focus on exercise and leisure – with active travel encouraged for those who have to commute to work, or when undertaking essential shopping.
England
There is a summary of the rules on the Gov.uk website, which includes guidance and also outlines most things which are against the law. On Tuesday evening a full set of amendments were published which laid out the new laws that have now come into effect. Here are the rules relating to exercising and meeting other people.
Exercising and meeting other people
You should minimise time spent outside your home.
It is against the law to meet socially with family or friends unless they are part of your household or support bubble. You can only leave your home to exercise, and not for the purpose of recreation or leisure (e.g. a picnic or a social meeting). This should be limited to once per day, and you should not travel outside your local area.
You can exercise in a public outdoor place:
by yourself
with the people you live with
with your support bubble (if you are legally permitted to form one)
in a childcare bubble where providing childcare
or, when on your own, with 1 person from another household
Public outdoor places include:
parks, beaches, countryside accessible to the public, forests
public gardens (whether or not you pay to enter them)
the grounds of a heritage site
playgrounds
Outdoor sports venues, including tennis courts, golf courses and swimming pools, must close.
When around other people, stay 2 metres apart from anyone not in your household - meaning the people you live with - or your support bubble. Where this is not possible, stay 1 metre apart with extra precautions (e.g. wearing a face covering).
Additionally, in the 'travel' section of the guidance document it says: "This [outdoor exercise] should be done locally wherever possible, but you can travel a short distance within your area to do so if necessary (for example, to access an open space)".
British Cycling has provided updated guidance on its website, where it acknowledges that some people may be confused by what constitutes their local area, and says it is seeking clarification on the issue.
“We know many of you will want to know what is meant by 'staying local'. The government’s definition of this is stated as ‘your village, town or the part of a city where you live’,” the organisation said.
“We understand that this definition is particularly restrictive for cycling, and we are working to seek further clarification on this. We will provide a further update as soon as we are able.
“In the meantime, we recommend that you follow the advice to stay local, ride well within your ability and ensure that you are self-sufficient.”
Update, January 6th: as mentioned above, it's now become clearer that exercising once per day and 'staying local' is guidance, and not the law. Does this mean it's sensible to go/ride against the spirit of the guidance? Probably not in most cases, and we'll be giving a more holistic answer to this question in our soon-to-be-updated guide to being a responsible cyclist in a time of pandemic.
Scotland
The mainland, and some islands including Skye, have been placed in Level 4. Some islands remain in Level 3, and you can find a list of those here.
For areas falling within Level 4, people are told to stay at home “as much as possible” and to “Travel no further than you need to reach to a safe, non-crowded place to exercise in a socially distanced way.”
The Scottish Government says: “A maximum of 2 people from 2 separate households can meet outdoors for sport or exercise. Children under the age of 12 from these households do not count towards this number.
“The members of an individual household or extended household [similar to a support bubble – Ed] can meet outdoors for sport or exercise.
“You can travel for local outdoor sport or exercise such as meeting another person, walking, cycling, golf or running that starts and finishes at the same place (which can be up to 5 miles from the boundary of your local authority area), as long as you abide by the rules on meeting other households.
“Indoor sports facilities are closed.”
Scottish Cycling last month produced a detailed guide to what informal and formal (ie organised) cycling is permitted under each of the country’s five tiers, which range from Level 0 (lowest) to Level 4 (highest).
You can find the guide here, but the Level 4 restrictions announced yesterday appear more restrictive than those that previously applied.
Wales
Wales has been in an Alert Level 4 national lockdown since 20 December, with the Welsh Government’s guidance available here. In response, Welsh Cycling said:
With the new regulations and guidance coming into place, this will mean a change in organised sporting activity. The new regulations mean you must adhere to the following:
All group activities are suspended until advised otherwise by Welsh Government
Ride on your own or with members of your household*.
Your ride has to start/finish at home.
Keep to social distancing measures of two metres apart.
If you live around borders into England please be aware of that regulations differ so please check the latest advice, we urge you to ride responsibly and within your ability to help protect the NHS [nb The latest rules in England mean that people in Wales will not be allowed to cross into the country – Ed].
It is also important to be self-sufficient by carrying the tools you need (i.e. inner tubes, chain tool and a working pump).
Welsh Cycling added: “As we enter another difficult period, we understand the physical and mental benefits exercise and cycling can have. We encourage you to continue to cycle but urge people to do so responsibly during this upcoming period and to follow Welsh Government regulations and guidance.”
Northern Ireland
As outlined on the regulations guidance page on nidirect.gov.uk, tougher restrictions were introduced in Northern Ireland following an increase in coronavirus cases on the 26th December, which meant the closing of all non-essential retail. From Friday NI will enforce a 'stay at home' law, however residents will still be allowed to take exercise outdoors. Here is the current guidance for sports on NI Direct.
Indoor and outdoor sport is not permitted, other than at elite level.
Elite training and competition can continue, both indoors and outdoors.
Elite sporting events must be held behind closed doors without spectators.
The definition of an elite athlete is set out in the regulations.
Horse racing can take place behind closed doors, in line with the elite sport regulations and animal welfare considerations.
All sports facilities such as leisure centres, gyms, health clubs, swimming pools, tennis courts, golf courses, fitness and dance studios must close.
Other exercise facilities, including activity centres, equestrian centres (access for the purpose of animal welfare is permitted), marinas, and venues relating to motor sport and water sport must also remain closed.
Only individual or household outdoor exercise is permitted. Physical activity such as walking, running, cycling, horse riding, or just walking the dog, bring many health benefits.
You cannot participate in personal one-to-one training sessions or group activities such as running or cycling.
Physical education delivered by or for schools, pre-schools and other education providers is permitted to continue.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- ktache 3 min 41 sec ago
Dodginess of the comment aside, your reply to it did mean I read the article, which I had not previously considered, and I'm impressed by this...
- mattw 4 sec ago
The context to that graph is set by the one below....
- hawkinspeter 12 min 48 sec ago
If she had disclosed it, I'm surprised that she has now resigned over it. Sorry, but who are Lammy and Chump?
- chrisonabike 14 min 5 sec ago
Seems popular though. I often wonder if it's "yeah they're a bad'un, but they're our *local* bad'un who's prepared to stand up to the outsiders"?...
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Reading this I couldn't stop laughing, 9kg bike not heavy and 8,5 kg Allroad SLR is. Same goes for geometry, higher, taller, longer Merida has a...
- chrisonabike 26 min 22 sec ago
It's choices again though including choosing "no change" - otherwise it's circular reasoning....
- ktache 34 min 45 sec ago
Well done Laura, and best of luck on further progress.
- Hirsute 1 hour 44 sec ago
A police officer will be required to take part in a driver training course after hitting a parked car in Colchester. ...
- hawkinspeter 1 hour 7 min ago
Yeah, sleeping heart rates can be lower or higher than resting heart rates. A high sleeping heart rate can be a sign of an illness such as sleep...
- Hirsute 1 hour 9 min ago
I don't think that's fair, sometimes the system is slow to update !
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149 comments
so to be clear, better to excercise in the town (where there are many people) than the rural roads around the towns (where there are very few people)
?
Unfortunately, yes, that is the current rule on exercise. So in terms of cycling for exercise, if one lives in a town which otherwise has all the essentials of food, work etc, then one has to stay in said town...
I just hope no one suddenly argues that you shouldn't go out for exercise if you could get injured or have something happen which means you can't get back under you own steam as an anti cycling rant.
Simply because that rules out any exercise and also doing anything at home as most accidents happen there.
We had that last time. I remember one bloke calling his wife for rescue because he had 2 severe punctures due to illegal traps set in the bridleway. Apparently it was his fault for not having 2 spare tyres with him !
alas your hope is in vain
I know. I posted that knowing the troll had done just that to be anti cycling even though those exact arguments could be used for any of the options for exercise allowed including travelling to a green space
I was going to also post the full quote from Mayer Hillman from that newspaper article where the line he likes to use is preceded and followed by needing to remove burning of ALL Fossil fuels and not just the travel ones. Of course as of the late 2016 he was still posting the benefits of cycling over every other transport form. I'm sure troll won't like that though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4pynYYnNpo&feature=emb_logo
Here's the original local article.
https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/first-picture-shocking-...
If you already own one, or can get one (Easier said than done at the moment). I am back to my lockdown I paranoia about my turbo trainer breaking down.
My garage, front door and back door are all in different Counties (seriosuly), so I'm pretty much covered with all of Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire to go out...
Actually, in the last tier roundup, Staffs was twinned with Birmingham and Cheshire with Manchester; I'm not sure I'm fit enough to stay local!
I call bullshit. The triple point of Staffordshire, Shropshire and Cheshire is in the middle of Wrinehill Wood, at 52.99811, -2.381393
The nearest buildings are Checkley Wood Farm (in Cheshire), Whitemoor Farm and surrounding buildings on School Lane (in Staffordshire) or Blake Hall Farm and surrounding buildings on Holders Lane (in Shropshire). All of these buildings are at least several hundred metres from the county borders.
As far as I am aware, the regulations (ie the law) have not been published yet, so it's not possible to say yet what is 'must' and what is 'should'.
The regulations have now been published. They are very un-user friendly, in that they work by amending the tier 4 regs rather than work as stand alone regs. But - and with the proviso that I'm not a lawyer - I don't think they make any changes to exercise rules. In particular, there is no mention of once a day, or of staying local.
Yep Adam Wagner human rights lawyer pointed out "here's what's not in the law which is in the guidance :
- Time limit on outdoor exercise;
- Geographical limit on outdoor exercise
- Travel between areas."
You may have spotted my source! (Though I did actually do my own analysis before he'd tweeted his.)
There is one slightly tricksy difference this time around. The original lockdown mk 1 legislation just said that various things, including exercise, were 'reasonable excuses' for leaving home. So that was that - if you were exercising, you were allowed out. In the latest version, what constitutes a 'reasonable excuse' is that it's 'resonably necessary' to do varoius things, including exercise. So if you're exercising, but the authorities decide that you didn't have a reasonable need to, it appears that you could still, theoretically, be charged with an offence.
Interesting - I hadn't spotted that change. Very difficult to define what is 'reasonable' in this case, I would have thought. Though generally, something being 'unreasonabe' is a pretty high bar (Wednesbury is the case law, I think).
And in tinfoil hat territory, "reasonable" means it's all entirely at the discretion of the attending police officer.
Did anyone see the police commissioner calling for his force to have power of entry even if there's no warrant and the homeowner refuses, just to check on Covid rulebreakers?
Because obviously that will get rolled back once the Covid emergency passes and won't just get kept on as a general police power...
The police already have power of entry, without a warrant, for a variety of reasons. See section 17 of Police and Criminal Evidence Act.
I can assure that the police cannot access your property without either a warrant or justified grounds that a crime is in progress. If you answer your door they will find a reason to enter. If you don't answer your door they cannot force entry without a warrant.
I agree that 'local area' is guidance not law. There's a little summary of guidance vs regulations here.
Riding outside is not just cold and miserable this time of year, it is now fraught with all manner of Covd restriction-related possibilities. I spent a lot of money on equipment so I can ride indoors. I now expect to get excellent value for money.
As I've spent the morning going through the badly worded document. I'll give you my opinion. You need to concetrate on the section "Travel". Unfortunately, in the advice they use three terms which seem to have different meanings "area", "local" and even "local area". This makes everything even more ambiguous than it needs to be.
I hope you're paying attention at the back.....
Local is defined: "If you need to travel you should stay local – meaning avoiding travelling outside of your village, town or the part of a city where you live".
It then goes on to say "The list of reasons you can leave your home and area include, but are not limited to:......outdoor exercise. This should be done locally wherever possible, but you can travel a short distance within your area to do so if necessary (for example, to access an open space)"
It basically says that you can leave your area for exercise but you should only travel within your area for exercise.
Stay at home, don't stay at home.
Hope this helps.
None of the stuff on travel or on staying local is in the law.
For me it is the difference between "should" and "must". The former is guidance, the latter is law.
I too intend to treat it like the first and second lockdowns until told I "must" do otherwise. Be self-sufficient, ride within my limits and try not to be a burden to the emergency services or anybody else. Just like every other ride I've ever done in other words.
There are three things at play here:
1. what cyclists think the rules are
2. what the vaguely defined government rules/guidelines might be
3. What cyclist haters think the rules are
You missed one:
4. What the police think the rules are when they stop you to ask, "Are you local?"
Us out of towners never see a policeman.
Is Barnard Castle allowed this time?
Depends who does it. Certain people have left the Protection Bubble of Downing Street.
Only if you're worried about your eyesight.
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