Business groups react to Aberdeen's extended lockdown

Business groups have been giving their reaction to Aberdeen's extended lockdown.

The first minister announced yesterday that the restrictions will stay in place for a third week - taking them up to next Wednesday (August 26).

A review will be held on Sunday, with a view to giving people a clearer timeline of when the measures will be eased.

Russell Borthwick, chief executive of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, said: "The chamber has been engaging with business communities and senior figures in government at all levels to find a way forward which balances the public health priority with the economic damage caused by lockdown, a need which is reinforced by yesterday's unheard of GDP figures.

"Despite a lot of hard work by us and others to make the case, we are very disappointed and surprised that the full lockdown measures will remain in place and fully back the stance of Aberdeen City Council that they should not continue beyond this weekend.

"On the basis of reducing levels of infection, we believed we should have seen a phased release of the lockdown restrictions starting yesterday and working towards a full re-opening of all affected venues over the next week to 10 days or earlier.

"We have been impressed by the further efforts of venues in working together to ensure lessons are learned and practices are adjusted.

"Our message has, for some months, been that we need a soft ‘contract’ between businesses and people to get the economy moving again in different times.

"We believe people will chose to go to places that have clearly made reasonable adjustments to ensure, as best as they can, the safety of their staff and customers. In turn, each and every one of us must take personal responsibility for adjusting our own behaviours in those places.

"While the broader hospitality sector is worst impacted by virtue of their forced closure, the consequences of these restrictions are hitting the small producers who supply them and has led to a significant decline in footfall and sales in retail across the city.

"We had started to see increased footfall and a ‘buzz’ return to the city before this latest setback and it is important that we regain this momentum safely and quickly."

Mr Borthwick has welcomed an announcement by the first minister of a £1 million pot to help affected businesses, with grants of up to £1,500 available.

But he says this won’t make a meaningful difference to the survival or not of venues forced to close for what now looks like a period of up to a month or longer".

He added: "It’s also important that UK Government responds positively to our ‘ask’ around flexibility in the job retention scheme.

"We have already seen business failures and now fear more will follow, with the job losses that will accompany this. The chamber will continue to be a vocal advocate for the business community, pushing hard for measures to ensure the future viability and vibrancy of our business community and our region in the weeks ahead."

Nicola Sturgeon said yesterday there was a limit to the amount of support she could provide.

A new Aberdeen Hospitality Together group was set up earlier this week to help businesses come up with a plan to recover from the second lockdown.

More than 100 businesses have already signed up.

In a statement, the group said: "The city has faced detrimental impacts from this localised lockdown with independent businesses and national chains already announcing closure.

"While we comply with guidelines, we seek clarity on reasoning for continuing the full lockdown restrictions. Our local council and incident management team believe this situation to be under control and that lower risk settings could be opened from this Saturday which we fully support.

"The hospitality sector in our city has faced a battering, with 14,000 jobs at risk, along with the city centre retail reporting a 60% drop in footfall since hospitality closed. This closure is having very serious impact on our local economy and leaving many businesses on a knife edge.

"While we acknowledge that safety is top priority, the numbers simply do not warrant this full closure for another seven days and once again is causing tremendous damage on our city's reputation.

"As a newly formed group, which is already representing more than 100 premises and counting, we are working at speed on a number of initiatives to help safeguard our industry but if this lockdown continues, it will be in vain and to the detriment of many local businesses who will not survive."

But the Federation of Small Businesses believes the grants scheme will go some way towards alleviating the harm done by the second lockdown in the city.

David Groundwater, the organisation's business development manager for north-east Scotland, said: "While many local businesses were assuming that the lockdown would continue for another week, yesterday's news will nonetheless be a bitter blow to cafes, restaurants and pubs across the city - as well as businesses in the wider economy.

"The resilience and determination of the Aberdeen hospitality sector is being tested to the limit, with weeks of no customers, no sales and no profits.

"Indicative re-opening dates, at least for part of the hospitality sector, are helpful in letting businesses plan, but getting back to business can’t come quickly enough for Aberdeen’s ailing economy.

"It’s a relief that first minister has listened to our calls for financial support for businesses hit by the restrictions. It’s also welcome that some of this support will go to those who are still open, but whose income has been decimated by the lockdown - such as those in the hospitality supply chain. We need to get them all to the other side. 

"FSB looks forward to working with Aberdeen City Council and the Scottish Government to ensure that businesses can access this support as quickly and easily as possible."

Speaking at her briefing yesterday, the first minister explained the reasoning behind extending the lockdown - which also places restrictions on indoor meetings and travel - into a third week.

She said: "There is now some evidence that the original cluster - linked with bars and nightlife - is being contained.

"However, we are also continuing to see a number individual cases and other smaller clusters in the city.

"That is not necessarily unusual for an outbreak of this scale. But it is something we need to monitor very carefully – because these cases do not appear to be linked to the original outbreak.

"In addition, the number of new cases in Grampian – over the week – remains higher than in other parts of the country, and continues to show some volatility. For example, the number I’ve reported today for Grampian is double the number that I reported yesterday.

"So while the situation is undoubtedly improving, I’m afraid that we are not yet in a position to say that this outbreak is over or completely under control.

"In particular, we continue to have some concern that the level of transmission not associated with the hospitality cluster remains elevated.

"Again to give some illustration of that, as of today, the figure for that non-hospitality related case number remains in Aberdeen over 20 per 100,000 – by contrast, the seven day rolling average for the rest of Scotland is around six per 100,000.

"It is therefore the government’s view, based on clear advice from the chief medical officer and national clinical director that it is not yet safe to lift these restrictions immediately.

"I know this is disappointing - the council in particular for understandable reasons, is keen to see restrictions lifted, a view they expressed at a SGORR meeting I chaired earlier this morning.

"We have also taken account of the view of the local incident management team, that the main cluster is increasingly under control.

"But, moving too quickly, with transmission levels as they remain just now, would – in our view – risk the hard won progress that people in Aberdeen have made.

"As a result, it is our conclusion reluctantly, and this has been a difficult decision this week, that hospitality businesses, such as pubs, restaurants and cafés, will remain closed and the restrictions on household gatherings and travel will remain in place for a further week."

She added: "However, I do want to signal as much certainty as I can at this stage to people, businesses and the wider local economy about when they can expect to see this restrictions eased.

"Assuming that the numbers continue on a downward trajectory, we would aim to start lifting restrictions from next Wednesday.

"At this stage, we hope that this will begin with the re-opening of lower risk premises, such as non-licensed cafes, from next Wednesday.

"We have also agreed this week to undertake a mid-week review on Sunday with a view - if possible at that stage - to confirming what I have just said about lower risk premises but also at that stage setting out a firmer timetable for the lifting of other restrictions. We will seek to do that as quickly as we consider it’s safe to do so.

"I want to reiterate my thanks to people in Aberdeen for complying so well with these rules over the past couple of weeks. Nobody wants measures to remain in place for longer than is necessary. But it is really important at this stage in the pandemic that we continue to take a precautionary approach.

"Our hope is that by sticking with these restrictions for a little longer – and ensuring that this outbreak is firmly under control – both the cluster and the more sporadic cases we’ve been seeing in Aberdeen, we can avoid further, more severe restrictions, in the future."