‘We are not Liverpool’ – Thousands sign petition to be removed from Tier 3
Residents of Halton and Runcorn have said they should not be placed under restrictions.
Thousands of Halton residents have signed a petition urging the Government to remove the borough from the Tier 3 restrictions imposed on the Liverpool city region.
The petition argues that Halton and the wider Runcorn area is part of Cheshire, not Liverpool.
It asks: “Take us out of the Liverpool city region and put us in medium lockdown where we belong.”
The petition was started last week after the Government and Mayor of Liverpool City Region Steve Rotheram placed the city and its boroughs into Tier 3 restrictions, following a rising number of coronavirus cases and hospital admissions in the city.
One resident who signed the petition said: “I was born and brought up in Widnes and postal address says Widnes Cheshire not Liverpool Merseyside or anything else, how about checking with the residents and taxpayers before you decide to change the council boundaries.”
Another added: “On my birth certificate I was born in Runcorn Cheshire, not Liverpool city region.”
Halton Borough Council joined the Liverpool Combined Authority in 2014.
The latest coronavirus figures show the number of new cases recorded in Halton in the seven days to October 15 was 438, down from 517 the previous week.
The rate of cases has also dropped from 399.5 to 338.5 during the same timeframe.
In Liverpool, the rate has dropped from 684.7 to 606.6, with 3,021 new cases recorded in the week leading up to October 15 – down from 3,410 the previous week.
Halton also falls under the Halton and Warrington Hospitals NHS Trust, not the Liverpool trust.
So far only the Liverpool region and Lancashire have come under the tightest restrictions in England, while Wales will begin a two-week “firebreak” lockdown on Friday.
