As new lockdown measures are introduced across the North West, Bolton residents are still under extra restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Households across Lancashire, Cheshire, and Merseyside will be subject to stricter rules from Tuesday, but the rules in Bolton remain mostly unchanged.

Bolton Council and the Department for Health and Social Care have issued clarification on what people in the borough can and cannot do, including guidance that the national "rule of six" now applies to the borough for people meeting in a public outdoor space.

Residents may now meet with up to five people from other households in outdoor spaces such as parks, but are still unable to meet with anyone inside a garden area of a home. 

Laws banning indoor performances and close contact beauty services have now been lifted - although both the DHSC and Bolton Council strongly advise against these activities. 

To clear things up, here's a full list of what you can and can't do in the area.

You can:

  • Meet with those inside your social bubble both indoors and outdoors
  • Meet with up to five other people in a public outside space, such as a park
  • Enter someone's house for work, such as repairs, cleaning, or childcare
  • Have someone else enter your home for work
  • Travel outside the borough for work
  • Work inside an office or other workplace
  • Send your children to school
  • Go to university
  • Visit a pub, restaurant, or cafe to collect takeaway food
  • Stay in a hotel
  • Visit both essential and non-essential shops
  • Go to the cinema
  • Take part in sports activities formally organised by a sports club where the governing body has issued guidance
  • Visit libraries
  • Use public transport for essential purposes
  • Attend a place of worship
  • Get married
  • Attend a funeral
  • Go on holiday outside the borough
  • Move house

You can't:

  • Visit your friends and family in their home or garden, or invite them to yours
  • Travel to another area without restrictions to visit family or friends
  • Meet with anyone outside your household or social bubble indoors or inside a private home or garden
  • Meet with more than five other people in a public outdoor space
  • Go to a wedding reception, or wake
  • Have more than six people at a wedding ceremony, civil partnership, or funeral
  • Visit a casino, skating rink or bowling alley
  • Get a takeaway after 10pm
  • Eat or drink inside any hospitality establishment located in Bolton
  • Have both parents attend a routine maternity scan or check-up
  • Go to a soft-play area
  • Go into a shop, library, funeral home, or vets without a face covering on
  • Have a haircut without a face covering on
  • Go to a museum, cinema, gallery, aquarium, or indoor zoo without a face covering on
  • Go to a post office, bank, or solicitors without a face covering on
  • Visit the hospital, your GP, or a pharmacy without a face covering on
  • Use public transport without a face covering on
  • Attend a business conference
  • Attend a sporting event
  • Visit a nightclub
  • Visit the One Stop Shop at Bolton Town Hall
  • Register a birth without an appointment
  • Register a death in person

You shouldn't:

  • Socialise with people you do not live or share a bubble with
  • Attend a play or theatre performance inside
  • Visit family or friends in a care homes
  • Have close contact services such as beauty treatments on the face

Dr Helen Lowey, Director of Public Health for Bolton Council, said: “We need to stop the spread of the virus and the best way is to reduce the number of contacts.

“People have asked why can’t they meet their friends and family but can sit in work or travel on public transport with strangers, and it is an important question to answer.

“It’s very natural to want to be close to the people you care about and this is what makes it so difficult to maintain physical distancing when you meet your friends and family.

“Workplaces and other venues however have risk assessments and measures put in place to limit the risk of the virus transmitting.

“We also know how hard it has been for our beauty industry where it is still too risky to give permission for them to open. It is still strongly advised for them to not offer close contact services, and we hope as time progresses this will be relaxed further.

“As the local infection rate rises, we also have to ensure care home residents are kept safe, and our care homes are continuing to restrict visits. We know how difficult it has been but providers are going above and beyond to help people stay in touch.”