Do you think Cornwall will be 'open' in July?

[NoSoapAndGory]

Hi all.

A purely speculative post to gauge opinions, as I know we don't know, don't have a crystal ball, etc etc.

We have booked a self catering holiday cottage near Bude for the first 10 days of July. We live in the South East, so it's about 5 hours drive to get there on a good day. We have a dog so would need to stop at a service station at least once.

As part of general future-focused conversation, DH and I are ruminating about

1: will we be 'allowed' to go
2: if we are, would we want to anyway?
3: if it's 'allowed', will the Bude community welcome us or hate us?
4: will the tourist industry want revenue or not?

Etc. Etc. Etc.

Anyone else having similar discussions, and if so, what are you thinking?

For now it's far safer in Cornwall than it is London

I agree, and the people who live in the worst conditions in London are unlikely to have the opportunity to go on a holiday to Cornwall this year, regardless of whether it is 'open'.

I was wondering if Newquay Airport would be open at the same time as having a temporary mortuary there? Seems a bit crass

600,000 of us don’t hate tourists. 600,000 of us share just one hospital (with a substantial % of medical staff off sick)

That’s the problem. It really isn’t personal.

I’d love to think Devon and Cornwall will be open because I went to see my family down there. Realistically, I doubt it. What you can all do though is order something from a favourite shop down there and keep them afloat. Such as pasties from a small bakery, etc.

I think I’ll cancel my holiday and order a pasty.

It's a good idea to support places that usually rely on tourism if you can afford it. One of my favourite places is the donkey sanctuary in Devon (it's their HQ but they operate across the UK). It will miss out from the lack of tourists.They have an online shop, and you can see the donkeys via webcams.

That’s a pasty and a donkey now. No holiday tho.’

My local council had planned to introduce ANPR on 1st April to stop nasty people from outside the county using their tips (even though I am sure just as many people from inside the county use other counties' tips when they are closer to their homes). Anyway, there's the solution. Everyone in Cornwall registers their cars (no second home owners allowed), you put ANPR on the Tamar bridge (and the A30) and only registered cars are allowed into Cornwall.

There you are, Cornexit sorted.

www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk/webcam1

I'm from Cornwall and in an ideal world it would be perfect if in July we were up and running, however it doesn't look likely at the moment. Due to the possibility of a second wave of the virus Cornish health officials are concerned that an influx of people could potentially cause havoc on the health services that Cornwall has - one hospital with a 24hr A&E and a larger hospital in Truro. They are both currently struggling to cope with demand from local people. I also know that many tourist attractions may not be able to open due to social distancing rules. This could include beaches, restaurants and pubs. They've already predicted that pubs and restaurants may not re-open until christmas. I had a holiday booked for July this year and I have moved it to next year. We're already nearing May and were not even out of lockdown, so I personally would re-think your plans.

Treliske hospital was in special measures up until April, (which was happy/convenient(?) timing to bring them out of it after 3 years).

Daffodil drop the dead donkey and adopt a lobster instead: www.nationallobsterhatchery.co.uk

For people in Cornwall who don’t think lack of tourism will hurt, look at the stats from local government research attached. 1 job in 5. It’s the biggest single sector of work and contribution to the economy. If this summer is a disaster, jobs in Cornwall and business will really suffer.

And all those lost jobs will hit so many other businesses. The knock on effect will be enormous.

I don't think anyone in Cornwall thinks lack of tourism won't hurt.

Bubbles I think there are very few people in Cornwall who are in denial about the impact of a lost tourist season.
But they are more concerned about the short term impacts of our fragile health care facilities ( more fragile and isolated than elsewhere in the country) being overrun.
We're just going round in circles here.
Even if the government do say we can return to domestic holidays, and some hospitality businesses can open under certain circumstances, it is going to have an impact of more deaths in Cornwall. So, there's no right answer and this debate will go on and on and on.

Yes, you are right. It will go on and on. But those who lose their jobs might fail to see a brighter future for years to come. I don’t live in London and I don’t go to Cornwall very often but it’s been fairly obvious that people who have decided to live in Cornwall like it being cut off and away from the busy life elsewhere.

However given the size of the population, one hospital seems very little. Is no one ever ill? Do many people go to Devon for treatment. I do not know any other area with 565,000 people with one hospital! The services must be available in Devon because one hospital cannot possibly offer every specialism. I live in a similar sized county (the size of the Cornwall population really surprised me!) and we have two hospitals in the county and I know patients go to at least two others in nearby local authorities. So Cornwall must do the same because one hospital for over 1/2 million people cannot work.

It is very little, that's the point people have been making! Plus it was in special measures up to April.

Yes, they cross the Tamar to go to Derriford.

And lots of people haven't "decided to live in Cornwall" as such - they were born and grew up there, and they stay because that's where their family and friends are. I always think it's bloody weird that people speak about some places as if they're places people only ever move to or retire to and otherwise they'd be completely empty.

Any part of the country which depends heavily on tourism will take a big hit this year and it’s desperately sad that people can’t go on holiday. We were due to be over in Staithes on the beautiful East Yorkshire coast on 4th April but clear couldn’t go and that week we tried not to think about where we should have been.

Where I’m seriously pissed off is that an awful lot of us could see what was heading our way in February and there had been a few earlier rumblings in January. All that time the Government just sat bloody navel gazing. I work in a healthcare system (I can’t say which one) but we were hearing terrible things from colleagues in Italy and we were terrified. We should have closed our borders straight away and stop this unbelievable system where people from virus hotspots including Wuhan were, and still are, just entering the UK without any checks or follow up. They come in and literally disappear off the radar.

The lockdown was at least two weeks two late. Where I live in the Peak District on the last Friday when the pubs were open, all three local country pubs were heaving at lunchtime with people driving round the car parks trying to get in. It was a glorious sunny day and it looked like Exodus up on the Edges with the number of people up there ambling along the rocks.

And don’t get me started on PPE. That is a total disgrace. Heads should roll for this mishandling which has cost so many lives.

Is it magically news to some people that Cornwall is the English county with the highest levels of poverty or something? Of course one hospital isn’t enough, most of our public services aren’t enough, but the government isn’t interested.

If we're talking about adoptions what about the Seal Sanctuary at Gweek? We went there a couple of years ago and loved it.

Gweek

Ramsay going, before lockdown, to his Cornish home makes her blood boil. Why? Because he isn't Cornish born and bred? Perhaps she hates people with Scottish backgrounds, I don't know. Whatever it is, it's unpleasant

Some facts that might help with understanding why the Ramsay family are not winning friends in Cornwall right now....

He was in Rock from early in lockdown, not in his primary residence, with immediate family. He is a public figure, who openly took the piss out of locals questioning whether this was ok.

Local police, MPs, Councillors and the actual UK government have been consistent that people should live at their primary residence, and someone very high profile who is clearly not doing this encourages the many others who also think the guidance should not apply to them. He is influential, so it aggravated an already delicate situation with second home owners coming to the county in high numbers.

He owns properties in multiple Cornish locations, run as Business lettings, and those were continuing to let to visitors long after the guidance made it clear that this was not ok. This also aggravated the already delicate situation, encouraging other letters to continue to allow visitors, and pissing off the ones who had rightly closed their doors and lost their income.

Then his adult kids joined him in the North Coast property, long after lockdown had begun.

And two weeks ago, the adult children moved to the third/fourth property in an entirely different Cornish town. And posted on social media with hundreds of thousands of followers, showing that they had gone to yet another different place. And were abusive or took the piss when asked what they were doing moving around the county from town to town.

And this week, Gordon Ramsay himself, and some of their young adult friends have joined them.

So they’re NOT on lockdown in their home. They’re moving about, and publicising that movement, and being deliberately provocative to and about local residents who have no choice at all about being here, and they continue to allow other people from outside the county to visit their multiple properties.

And anyone who points out that they’re not meant to be doing this is labelled as jealous of their wealth and publicly ridiculed.

Meanwhile, they reap the rewards of their paid social media appearances, #stayathome plastered all over them.

It is beyond insulting, and actively endangers the people who live in those tiny streets by showing exactly how easy it is to continue doing just as you please.

Bubbles the hospital in Cornwall does NOT work, that's the point. It's frequently in black alert, when local residents are asked not to attend unless absolutely necessary, and the CQC rates many areas as 'requires improvement'.
Our alternative hospital is Derriford, just over in Devon, which if anything is worse than Treliske. Friends of mine have been asked to bring their own sheets and pillows when coming in to give birth.
Given the rural nature of our county and low population density, travel to hospital for many people takes over an hour.
So basically we really really try not to get sick, but as many people who live here are old and vulnerable, it's difficult, even when we're NOT in a global pandemic.

I am amongst those who have every sympathy with people living in Cornwall not wanting other people visiting the county because of the hospital situation. However the tone of how this message has been delivered is unpleasant, examples from FB pages earlier and photos I have seen of “Keep away “ type signage. I suppose it could be argued that so many people are so selfish and obtuse that the message needs to be that blunt but I won’t be going back to Cornwall anytime soon and not just because I won’t be allowed to

The tourism industry will take a massive hit either way. Regardless of what the government say, many people will be cutting back on discretionary spending because of financial concerns, many people won't be able to risk travelling because of health concerns, and many businesses won't be able to function if they have to reduce customer numbers because of social distancing.