As lockdown continues to ease and local non-essential shops are beginning to open, Barking and Dagenham Council is helping shop owners with timely advice to help stop the spread of coronavirus.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, council enforcement officers have been working closely with permitted shops to ensure that they have been following government guidance by enforcing the social distancing and not hiking the prices of essential products.

From next week, non-essential shops will be allowed to be open and these will include clothes, shoes and mobile phone stores as well as betting shops plus others.

However, the council is insisting that shops continue to follow the government’s advice to help halt the spread of the virus and have produced some top tips including; limiting the number of people in the shop at any one time and having a one-way in and one-way out system in the shop.

Advice also includes having two metre markings on the floor, installing screens to protect staff and to have in place a regular cleaning regime.

The council has created a series of posters that shop owners can display, advertising the rules around social distancing and the number of people allowed in the store at any time.

Councillor Margaret Mullane, Cabinet Member for Enforcement and Community Safety said: “We might be seeing an ease to lockdown, but we haven’t beaten the virus, so I have to reiterate how important it is for us all to follow the government’s guidance and continue to social distance.

“We have worked really closely with local shops that have been open during lockdown and I hope this continues as more shops open. If we continue to follow the guidance from the government, we will beat this and soon see our lives going back to normal.”

Full guidance for shop owners on GOV.UK.