Aberdeen City Council and other local bodies call for reduction to level one.

Aberdeen City Council's Co-Leaders, as well as several local associations and groups have signed a letter calling on the Scottish Government to rethink the Granite city's Covid restriction level.

They are asking to have it reduced to Level 1 at the nearest possible point - which would be Tuesday.

They say this should happen to "mitigate the economic harm" which began with the local lockdown.

It has been signed by: City Council Co-Leaders Jenny Laing and Douglas Lumsden, Frank Whitaker of Aberdeen City & Shire Hotels Association, Russell Bothwick, Chief Executive of Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of commerce, Stuart McPhee of Aberdeen Hospitality, Adrian Watson of Aberdeen Inspired and David Groundwater of Federation of small businesses.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said of the letter:

"Desire for speedier progress understandable but these decisions have been taken carefully. We are at a crucial moment & it will take work in coming weeks to maintain progress & not have to return to the stricter restrictions many other countries are facing. Compliance is vital."

The full letter can be read below:

"Dear Ms Sturgeon

We have all been working together as partners in response to Covid-19, trying

to minimise the extent of economic harm to the city as a result of the virus. We

understand the need for health protection levels to be identified as part of the ongoing response to the pandemic, and welcome the corresponding public health

interventions provided by the Scottish Government’s Strategic Framework for each

health protection level.

However, we feel that the approach adopted by government does not in practice

give equal consideration to the four harms outlined in the framework. Aberdeen

has experienced a greater extent of economic harm due to the city lockdown in the

summer and recently published data suggests that we are seeing some concerning

trends in terms of our local economy. Economic harm should be seen as a

significant factor in decision making around the levels.

For those reasons, we believe that Aberdeen should be placed on Level 1 of the

restrictions rather than Level 2 to try and mitigate the economic harm now.

Aberdeen and its businesses have always complied with the regulations as they

have been introduced. We have implemented a number of measures to ensure

that the city’s economy could operate while maintaining appropriate physical

distancing, including Spaces for People, the Aberdeen Hospitality Together’s 10-

point Plan and the Council’s Socio-Economic Rescue Plan as the city emerged

from national lockdown in July. Footfall levels in the city centre were beginning to

rise and Aberdeen City & Shire Hotels Association reported that pipeline demand

was showing signs of some recovery. Businesses were also going beyond

Government guidance in terms of implementing processes and procedures for

physical distancing.

However, the city was then placed under a local lockdown for three weeks in

August and average footfall levels fell to around 50% of June/ July levels, and the

food and drink sector lost the benefits of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme operating

at that time.

The hotel sector is struggling to get revenues back to levels even prior to local

lockdown, and that initial pipeline demand has not returned. Accommodation

bookings and wider spend depend on travel from different regions of Scotland, the

UK and internationally, and city centre hotel demand is predominantly driven by

business travel.

Unemployment in the city has more than doubled between March and September,

and the number of people receiving universal credit assistance has more than

doubled to more than 17,000 people. At the same time, we have seen a significant

decrease in the total number of job vacancies in the city, and, looking at notified

potential redundancies, the city accounts for 35% of all Scottish notifications, some

6,400 jobs. Our concern is these levels are more than four times that of Edinburgh

and six times that of Glasgow; the impact is apparent across sectors, and we are

seeing a significant proportion in hospitality.

All of this has an impact on confidence and the messaging of Aberdeen as an

international business location. We are concerned about the legacy effects on the

city and the economic harm beyond the immediate challenges we face, and

particularly the impact on lower income households. As a matter of urgency, we

need to send a signal of confidence in Aberdeen to businesses – within the city

region, and to UK and international business and investors.

Collectively we are calling on government to:

1. Place Aberdeen into Level 1 at the nearest possible review point. If the Scottish Government believes this is not possible, given the urgency of the challenging economic situation and declining prevalence of the virus in the

region, it should set out an indicative date for when Aberdeen will be able to move into Level 1 immediately, and when it expects Aberdeen to be able to move into Level 0.

2. In the short term, businesses in areas moving between levels need to be alerted as soon as possible to allow them to prepare for any further

scheduling. We encourage Government to continue to engage with us through the dedicated Task Force formed from within the local Business

Resilience Group that was set is response to Covid-19. We need clarity around the any weekly reviews and how changes are notified to those affected.

3. The Scottish Government must work alongside local authorities and business to develop a more ambitious forward-looking pathway to sustainably reopen all sectors of the economy in the months ahead and allow us to build towards recovery. A refreshed routemap should be created which focuses on resolving some of the key challenges which are creatingserious economic harm. In particular this should address the safe reopening of offices, put forward practical solutions and timescales to allow leisure and corporate travel to resume, and set out steps to work with the hospitality sector to ease restrictions which are putting businesses at severe risk."