Stay Home Save Lives campaign banner attached to park railings
Hammersmith & Fulham Council has decided to re-open parks from 2pm today (27 March) following the government’s announcement of new emergency laws. Playgrounds will remain closed.
The parks were closed last Sunday (23 March) amid public health concerns that thousands of residents could catch coronavirus because people were failing to observe social distancing rules.
H&F Leader Cllr Stephen Cowan said: “Last weekend, despite the best efforts of parks police, the COVID-19 contagion was potentially being passed on by people socialising in Hammersmith & Fulham’s parks. Because of that public health threat to many thousands of our residents, the parks were closed on Sunday night.
“Yesterday the government’s new emergency laws came into force which introduce a series of restrictions on people’s movement and gatherings and give the police new powers to enforce the new laws. Apart from the once-daily exercise, people are now obliged to stay in their homes and only leave for exceptional reasons.
“Because these new laws will enforce the social distancing regime, backed up by our highly-visible public information campaign, our parks can now re-open and will do so from 2pm today. This will be on a trial basis.”
Read Cllr Cowan's full statement here.
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