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

@ceeveebee It's fine if you think that, I have no issue with your opinion, nor you choosing to act under your own moral code. However, everyone should be well informed of their rights and resposibilities under the law, surely you won't admit to being against that?

I'll drive 15 minutes away to walk my dogs in deserted woods/fields. I can walk them for over 2 hours there and see no one.

There are woods that back onto the end of my garden but they are full of families and dogs nearly all day every day. You cannot keep your distance at all because all the paths are muddy so everyone walks on the main paths.

I'm very COVID adverse as I live with someone already hospitalised once because of it. The dogs need walking and I am unwilling to infect a loved one. The 15 minute drive (literally 10 miles but it's all country roads) is my solution to ensure I can look after my pets and my family.

It should be based on common sense not just distance.

@hamsterchump

There has been no official laws past on whether 'local' is 2 miles, 10 miles or 20 miles etc. It is a very hard position for the police force at the minute. The government needs to provide more guidance on these matters.

im fairly rural. drive about 3 miles for the dog walk and 6 miles to town. Definitely local. it does depend where you live though.

my dog walking spot is now crowded with non-locals wandering around in inappropriate clothes trying to find their way on their phone.

Same county.

As has been pointed out, there are no laws against travel for exercise, only guidance.

I’d say up to 15 miles. My nearest city is 12 miles and I think of it as local.

[quote Fieldofyellowflowers]@hamsterchump

There has been no official laws past on whether 'local' is 2 miles, 10 miles or 20 miles etc. It is a very hard position for the police force at the minute. The government needs to provide more guidance on these matters.[/quote]
The government should direct the police to read the legislation and enforce it nothing more. There is nothing in the law about distances or localities etc, if the government wanted these included they should have included them. They probably considered it but realised that it would be completely unworkable.

If you are going for a run or bike ride I would consider up to 10 miles reasonable.

Personally i think the idea is that you can walk/run/cycle as far as you like as long as you start from your house and end back at your house its the driving to anywhere that is the issue. If your lucky enough to live near beaches, woods, fields, mountains then you will obviously be able to enjoy them if you dont then you have to make do with walking around the streets. well that’s your idea, it might not be everyone else’s. Why should a family who live in the middle of a housing estate have to make do with walking alongside the traffic, possibly having to jump in the road to avoid oncoming walkers to keep their distance, when they could drive a few miles to a big country park for their kids to run about and easily keep distance from others?

Well, give it a week and I predict that it will be put into law. England has taken an approach throughout all of this whereby the guidance is more stringent than the law (whereas Wales and Scotland have put their travel restrictions into law). But that approach relies on the general public following the guidance which we have all pretty much proved that we won’t unless it’s made law. And as they have already started to leak this to the press don’t be surprised when next week there is a 5 mile limit and a ban on meeting one other person outdoors...

Tending to an allotment is classed as exercise... they might not be in walking distance, and you certainly will need to drive if you are taking compost/plants etc. I can't see exercise from your door being a thing tbh.

@ceeveebee

Well, give it a week and I predict that it will be put into law. England has taken an approach throughout all of this whereby the guidance is more stringent than the law (whereas Wales and Scotland have put their travel restrictions into law). But that approach relies on the general public following the guidance which we have all pretty much proved that we won’t unless it’s made law. And as they have already started to leak this to the press don’t be surprised when next week there is a 5 mile limit and a ban on meeting one other person outdoors...

I'm glad you decided not to argue against people being fully aware of their legal rights and responsibilities, I had a horrible feeling, but you've surprised me.

How's a 5 mile limit going to work when some people live further than that from a supermarket? And how are these new stricter laws going to be enforced when they can;t enforce the current ones. What difference does it actually make to the virus whether a person travels miles alone in their car or not? If you bring in ridiculous, obviously ineffectual rules then people will start to question all of them which would not be favourable. There is likely a limit to what can be done to contain a virus, without inadvertantly worsening outcomes and we may have already reached it.

About 5

There is likely a limit to what can be done to contain a virus, without inadvertantly worsening outcomes and we may have already reached it.

This is the most sensible thing I have read all day.

I would prefer that it was left as guidance because of the nuances you describe but if people do not comply with the spirit of the guidance, then we will have tighter restrictions, the signals are very clear

And do not presume to make judgements about my opinions on transparency, you know nothing about me.

It’s got to depend on where you live, surely? There’s no prescriptive answer.

Walking distance for some air/exercise.

Reasonably close/nearest supermarket for food.

@ceeveebee

I would prefer that it was left as guidance because of the nuances you describe but if people do not comply with the spirit of the guidance, then we will have tighter restrictions, the signals are very clear

And do not presume to make judgements about my opinions on transparency, you know nothing about me.

Of course more restrictions may come in but if peopledon't believe in them and don't follow them then the effect will be much the same as without them. What do you think should be done? Do you think there is anything effective that can be done etc?

I know about you from your comments of course, it seemed you were implying you would rather people were kept ignorant, you might want to be more careful with your wording if this isn't what you meant.

@EreLongDoneDoDoesDid

It’s got to depend on where you live, surely? There’s no prescriptive answer.

Yes that's exactly why this part about staying local is guidance not law, they know it's impossible to have any kind of workable, blanket rule. People will have to make their own minds up.

To those that are saying use of cars is totally unreasonable, surely it depends on individual circumstances? We live on the edge of a town but on an A-road with no pavement, and I have a toddler. There are two country parks and a nature reserve that are geographically within a mile radius of my house but we need to drive to them all in order to get there safely.

Some of these answers seem a bit mad in the context of exercise. I live in a city and don’t drive, so I have about five supermarkets within a mile radius of home and I couldn’t bring my pesky urban plague to the Peak District if I wanted to, but I don’t feel that I’m being even slightly subversive by running 6-7 miles from home (to complete a half marathon distance, starting and ending at my own front door). I’m not much of a cyclist but I can and do cover that sort of distance by bike even with my children in tow - if time permitted and I was more into it, I expect I’d cycle considerably further.

I think it’s really important people are given a bit of leeway to apply common sense to this guidance, because what is safer and effective is so different in different contexts. When I run, the mile nearest my front door (ie the one I have very little control over, whichever direction I’m going in) is the most congested; I am deliberately going further with the aim of being somewhere less crowded!

It would be easy for me to be bitter about people with their big polluting cars being able to get to places which are currently off limits for me while I can’t reasonably use public transport... but it actually serves me well if some of my neighbours can drive out to the suburban country parks, rather than squeezing into the same urban green spaces that I’m stuck with. It’s a little bit Adam Smith’s invisible hand...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-55625062

So apparently we have our answer.... there is no defined limit and police cannot fine you for travelling to exercise.

In the words of JVT just don’t rip the pants out of it!

Depends for what. Our exercise should 'start and finish at home' which it does do as we live very rurally but main supermarket is about 8 miles away.

It's all getting ridiculous now! People exercising outside is bit what is spreading this thing. It's close contact primarily indoors.
I have two dogs I have to drive to somewhere I can walk them. I live on a steep hill and am currently awaiting a knee replacement. So I have to drive somewhere to somewhere flatter.

I'm a self employed carer and one of my clients lives very remotely up on the moors. Yesterday I was followed by police across the moor and I'm pretty sure had I pulled into a public car park they would have fined me. When I pulled up into my clients driveway they paused and watched me! I think because I had my dogs in the car.
Personally I don't feel I would have been doing anything wrong though had I stopped and gone for a walk on my way to or from my client.

I would say it's reasonable to go 5-10 miles from home to access a decent walking route or country park.

Not everyone lives close to somewhere nice to walk and it's one of the few things we have left to do.