Can people play croquet during lockdown? Does tending an allotment count as daily exercise?
Are cyclists allowed to ride through villages?
North Yorkshire Police has been answering residents’ questions about what they can and cannot do under the coronavirus restrictions.
Chief Constable Lisa Winward was asked by a member of the public if they were allowed to continue to play croquet during the lockdown. Another questioner asked if they could play table tennis.
Ms Winward said the games can count as your daily workout – if they are played following government guidance.
She said: “If your usual daily exercise is to play table tennis or to take croquet and you’re not driving hundreds of miles to undertake them, it’s safe to do so, you’re not in large groups of people and you’re abiding by the guidance – then it would fall under exactly the same criteria.”
Allotments and cyclists
Another resident asked if they are allowed to go to their allotment.
Ms Winward highlighted advice from the Allotment Society – which says people can work on an allotment for their daily exercise if they stay 2m away from other people.
Police, fire and crime commissioner Julia Mulligan said some residents say they are worried about the number of cyclists riding through their villages – and that one woman said she counted 43 cyclists go past her house in two hours.
Ms Mulligan said: “We have had quite a lot of communication from villagers with concerns around cyclists, feeling concerned that there are people coming into their communities that might be carrying the virus.
“We have asked people really to follow the guidelines and make sure that exercise is local.”
Another resident asked why the chief constable was making “unnecessary journeys” herself.
Ms Winward said she has been out across the county, saying: “I am still a warranted police officer, even though I am in a leadership position.
“Part of my role is is to show that leadership and be there and be out delivering the service.”
She praised officers who said “we are asking to turn up for work day in, day out, despite the risks to them and their families of delivering that service.”