Bedford residents spend even less time in town parks as lockdown continued

Bedford's residents were heading to parks even less as the mandatory lockdown continued, figures from Google suggest.

The tech giant's latest weekly report shows people across the UK ventured out to parks, beaches and other public areas less last week – with footfall remaining significantly below normal levels.

Google uses location data from phones and other personal devices to track trends in people's movement in the home, retail and recreation establishments, grocery stores and pharmacies, public transport hubs, workplaces, and parks and green spaces.

The weekly report shows a decrease in activity within Bedford's parks during the week to May 2, compared to the week before – suggesting people are hanging out in public green spaces less regularly, or for shorter periods of time.

Over the six days for which there was sufficient local data, time spent in parks was 17 per cent lower than during a five-week baseline period at the start of the year.

The week before, it had been 8 per cent higher than usual levels, based on five days of data.

The data suggests that the population in Bedford are staying away from green spaces less successfully than in other locations across the UK. Nationally, people were spending 22 per cent less time than usual in parks last week.

This week, the Government relaxed its advice to people to stay at home, changing its messaging to "stay alert, control the virus, save lives" – though Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have kept the original, stronger messaging.

Health experts have expressed concern that the new slogan lacks clarity and may lead to an increase in "risky behaviour" from the public.

People unable to work from home – such as those in construction and manufacturing – will be "actively encouraged to go to work", though use of public transport should still be limited.

People will also be allowed to spend more time outdoors for leisure purposes, as long as they are socially distanced from others.

In other locations in Bedford:

*Visits to public transport hubs were 61 per cent down on usual levels

*Shopping centres and food outlets experienced 76 per cent less traffic than normal

*Workplaces were 57 per cent quieter than usual

*Food shops and pharmacies had 29 per cent less traffic

*People spent 27 per cent more time at home than usual