Sheffield pubs and restaurants given strict new rules to follow as lockdown eases

Ministers have tabled an amendment to the Business and Planning Bill requiring businesses to make "reasonable provision" for non-smoking seating.

While smoking is banned inside pubs and restaurants, there are currently no controls on outdoor eating and drinking.

Planning Minister Chris Pincher said: "We are supporting our pubs, cafes and restaurants to safely reopen and securing jobs by making it quicker, easier and cheaper to set up outdoor seating and stalls to serve food and drink, whilst protecting public health against the transmission of Covid.

"These changes will allow everyone to enjoy outdoor eating and drinking whether they smoke or not, with appropriate provisions made for non-smokers and smokers."

The Business and Planning Bill is intended to help the hospitality sector as it reopens following lockdown make it easier for business to set up temporary outdoor areas for eating and drinking.

The news comes as Boris Johnson played down the prospect of a second national coronavirus lockdown, saying he did not want to use it any more than Britain's Trident nuclear deterrent.

The Prime Minister said the authorities were getting better at identifying and isolating local outbreaks, although it was important that the power to order national action was held in reserve.

"I can't abandon that tool any more than I would abandon a nuclear deterrent. But it is like a nuclear deterrent, I certainly don't want to use it. And nor do I think we will be in that position again," he told The Sunday Telegraph.

His comments could lead to further tensions between ministers and their scientific experts after the chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance warned on Friday there was "a risk" that national measures could be needed as winter approaches.

Announcing another easing lockdown restrictions in England, Mr Johnson on Friday said he hoped there could be a "significant return to normality" in time for Christmas.

At the same time, he said the Government had given local authorities new powers to close specific premises, shut outdoor spaces and cancel events.

Mr Johnson told the Telegraph: "It's not just that we're getting much better at spotting the disease and isolating it locally, but we understand far more which groups it affects, how it works, how it's transmitted, so the possibility of different types of segmentation, of enhanced shielding for particular groups, is now there."

"We're genuinely able now to look at what's happening in much closer to real time, to isolate outbreaks and to address them on the spot, and to work with local authorities to contain the problem locally and regionally if we have to."