How many miles away from your home would you class as local?

[Lockdowner35]

As there are debates about what classes as local.

I would say maybe 7-10 miles away

It completely depends on context.

@40somethingJBJ

I’m in a village in Derbyshire and people have been fined for going to the country park in the next village, less than 2 miles away, so I’m not quite sure what classes as local anymore! All I do know is that, as a mobility scooter user, I’m really limited on accessible dog walking places at the minute, without driving somewhere, as most of the paths round me are either closed or you have to climb over a stile to get on them!

You have a legitimate excuse though. Accessibility due to disability is a reasonable excuse to drive somewhere accessible.

What's walking distance? I was often doing a 10 mile loop at the weekend in summer.

I drive 15 miles to work and consider that local so I guess about that.

@Randomrebel

My interpretation is within walking distance if you have to drive it’s too far.

I think that’s a bit unfair to rural communities. If I want to walk my 16 month old to the park I first have to drive 1/2 mile to an area with pavement as I literally can’t walk from my home as it would require walking on a 60mph stretch of road with no pavement or pedestrian access. Not everyone lives somewhere safe to walk outside their front door. We do have footpaths through fields but they require getting over stiles and I can’t manage with a toddler now. It was ok with a newborn in a sling but my back is too buggered to cope with deep mud and a heavy non-walking child. I don’t feel driving to a safe place to walk is unreasonable.

It’s not black and white and that’s the problem.

Our nearest shop is 23 miles and the GP is 42 miles. I consider anything within 75 miles to be local. Once you’re in the car, you’re in the car. Does it matter if you drive 5 miles or 50?

About 20min drive, I’d say.

5 miles.

The government needs to set down guidelines as to what is local and what is not. People are getting fined for being five miles away from home and yet Boris Johnson went on a bike ride, ending up 7 miles away from Downing Street. It's an insult.

For the purpose of this lockdown I wouldn’t really drive to anywhere in order to exercise - but then we are lucky in that we are 1 mile from a national trust property and lots of walks / cycle routes
(appreciate not everyone is in the same position though and might need to drive a few miles to get to somewhere to walk or cycle)

If you live in a town or city, and you have what you need to get by on in your immediate vicinity then I would classify that as local. I have no need to travel even 3 miles to the next (larger) town as we have supermarkets etc. Boring, yes. Limiting, a bit. But not necessary ot travel further.

When I stayed in Scotland, we were 10 miles from the nearest town in any direction and needed to travel that far for a supermarket.

Of course it varies.

But there are people around here moaning on social media because they drove the 3 miles to the nearest mountain and got turned away by the police as it wasn't local - and can't see that they were in the wrong.

Shops wise a couple of miles, or the nearest supermarket if that is further away. Exercise wise you should start from your door but it can be reasonable to cycle 20 or so miles in one go so it would be reasonable to be up to 10-12 miles away from home in order to do so (as long as you have cycled from home).

Up to 10 miles.

I'm rural so I would go to my nearest town 6 miles away for work and essential shopping (it's where we click and collect). I travel to drop DD off at her Grandparents while I work, which is 10 miles. But for exercise less than 5 miles.

The Guidance says
• outdoor exercise. This should be done locally wherever possible, but you can travel a short distance within your area to do so if necessary (for example, to access an open space)

Legally you can go as far as you want and as often as you want as long as you leave your home under a "reasonable excuse" so it's really up to you. You can read the legislation yourself online.

so 'area' is used in contrast to 'local', consequently in the Guidance they are not the same thing, so you can travel to somewhere in your 'area' for exercise that is not necessarily 'local', otherwise they would not word it like that.

Depends what you are doing and where you live. If you have a supermarket a mile from you then is no reason to visit one 5 miles from you. If you walk, you might be 1/2 miles from home in a loop. If you cycle / run you would be 5-10 miles from home. It’s about being sensible and not ‘pushing the boundaries’ or looking for loopholes.
Driving someone for exercise is a piss take. Pretty sure everyone has paths outside their house?

If you are in England, local is determined by staying in your village, town or part of city. It’s not to do with distance in miles.

I thought (could be wrong, can't remember where I saw it) they said it was stay in your:

• village
• town
• area of larger town/city (Whichever applies to you)

Really depends where you live doesn't it? I mean, I'd refer to our county's hospital as the local one, but it's 30 minutes away (15 miles ish). Local council building is 30 minutes away.
Rural South East. Takes me 30 mins to get to nearest decent size supermarket (not the co-op or tiny sainsburys or tesco express in the small town 6 miles away). I work 'locally' again 15 miles ish.
So I'd say 15 miles!

So the unclear issue under the Guidance is not 'local' it is 'within your area' - this is where you are allowed to travel for exercise. Obviously it is not walkable because you are allowed to travel there.

I am not a fan on the PM but a cycle ride 7 miles from home does not seem unreasonable to me. That would only be half an hour from home - so then half an hour back; cycling for an hour, what's the big deal? How would it improve matters if he had cycled round and round his immediate block for an hour? He no more or less likely to come to harm whether he's one mile from home or seven.

He wasn't fined though. People have been fined recently for travelling less than 7 miles to exercise. It shouldn't be one rule for politicians and one rule for everyone else.

Ah cross post!

imho, govt should have said folk could drive "up to an hour" away for errands or exercise. Doesn't matter what i think, of course.

Local newspaper publishing stories about stuff happening 5 miles away: my honest response was "What the Fuck do I care? I'm not allowed to go there until further notice."