21/05/2020

Dear Ms Saxby,

I am writing to you to express our grave concerns about the inadequacies of current Government guidelines and your confused messaging following the dangerous number of people flooding into North Devon yesterday. As you will be well aware, North Devon will suffer greatly if there is a surge in Corona Virus cases, not just from the flouting of social distancing measures inevitable in the bottle-neck car parks and roads surrounding the popular beaches, but in the additional strain on our local supermarkets, shops, petrol stations, etc…

Yesterday saw North Devon’s roads in gridlock as visitors from around the country rushed to the area following your Government’s green light to travel. 100s of fines were issued to cars parked illegally and in Barnstaple it was reported that parking wardens had run out of tickets. And yet your response was “Woolacombe is overrun and it is really the responsibility of the parish council to get their car parks properly open”, instead of acknowledging that the unacceptable influx of visitors to the area is a result of your, and the Government’s, confused messaging. Indeed, on 12th May you said “in many cases car parks and public toilets are still closed which will reduce the numbers planning a journey”, which, whilst clearly unsuccessful, suggests keeping public toilets closed was not at odds with your strategy for managing visitor numbers.

Yesterday you said “Slowly releasing the lockdown is going to be difficult, but opening our tourism sector too soon when businesses and local residents are not ready to deal with the necessary measures required, could have serious consequences for our local NHS.” We absolutely agree. We are desperately worried about the impact that Covid-19 will have on our tourism industry, but like you understand that public safety and the prevention of an overwhelming of our local NHS must take priority. Which is why, earlier in the same day, we were disappointed to hear you say ” I think we need to recognise that we are a tourism area and our tourism businesses are on their knees. At some point, we do actually need our economy to restart because we might be worrying about what’s happening right now, but if our tourism economy doesn’t start in the next few weeks… that in itself is going to cause no end of future issues for our community and I think we do need to start to balance the risks” It is this kind of rhetoric which has given the impression that Devon’s tourism industry is beginning to re-open and encouraged the dangerous number of visitors to the area. We understand that planning must begin for how our tourism industry will get back on its feet post lockdown, but this must be conducted discreetly and sensitively, with your constituent’s safety as the absolute priority, and only so that the industry is prepared for the changes it will need to make WHEN it is safe to do so. Otherwise we risk overwhelming our local health services as well as putting front line workers in the service industry in unnecessary danger.

Your responses to yesterday’s events were wholly inadequate. It was not the fault of car parks and Parish Councils that the constituency was overrun, but of Government policy and your confused messaging suggesting tourism should begin opening up. By touting the Tory Party line, you have disregarded your constituents and put their safety at risk. We hope you will reflect on this and do all you can to improve the Government Guidelines and protect the people of North Devon.

Yours sincerely,

Nick Agnew
Secretary, North Devon CLP

https://www.northdevonlabour.org/open-letter-to-selaine-saxby-mp.html