This is why South Gloucestershire has been singled out for Tier 3 as Bristol is downgraded

South Gloucestershire is set to become a Tier 3 island as neighbouring Bristol drops down to Tier 2.

Health secretary Matt Hancock confirmed in the House of Commons today (Thursday, December 17) that both Bristol and North Somerset will be downgraded, following a decrease in coronavirus rates.

Despite this, South Gloucestershire will remain in the strictest category, as well the vast majority of other Tier 3 areas.

As well as Bristol, the district is bordered by Bath and North East Somerset, Wiltshire and Stroud – all of which are already in Tier 2.

The community has already expressed a strong feeling of injustice on social media after being singled out, as they prepare to face at least another two weeks of the strictest restrictions while neighbours across the border regain some sense of normality.

Places closest to the city like Kingswood and Downend are largely considered to be part of Bristol, despite technically being in a different local authority area.

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So, why have they been left out?

The decision did come as something of a surprise given that during the initial tier allocations, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bristol were all considered as one area.

Reasoning from the government at the end of November, when Tier 3 was announced, stated: “Bristol, South Gloucestershire, and North Somerset are part of a wider travel to work area and thus form a natural geographic grouping, separate to the surrounding area.”

Despite this, the areas were separated this time around.

This is likely because South Gloucestershire has seen a higher rate of infection in recent days and because pressure on NHS services remain.

Earlier this week, Bristol Live reported how South Gloucestershire had the highest coronavirus rate in the entire South West region.

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Director of public health Sara Blackmore revealed that the area’s rate of Covid-19 was 148 per 100,000 residents, compared with just 83 for the region as a whole.

However, this was still below the average for England of 172 per 100,000 population.

Ms Blackmore told South Gloucestershire health and wellbeing board on Monday (December 14) that detailed analysis was being carried out to determine the reason infections were increasing again.

She said: “In the last seven days we’ve had 422 cases in South Gloucestershire.

“We started off by seeing a levelling off of figures and then quite a rapid decline and we are now starting to see an increase in numbers.

“It is clearly of concern that our rates are starting to rise again.”

The government considered five key indicators while reviewing the tier allocations:

Follow our live tier updates with all the reaction here

Clearly South Gloucestershire’s analysis was not as reassuring as that of Bristol or North Somerset.

The revised tier allocations will come into force just after midnight on Saturday morning, and will be reviewed again in another two weeks’ time.

People living in Tier 3 areas are only allowed to travel outside of their tier “where necessary” – that means, although tempting given its proximity, people living in South Gloucestershire should not travel into Bristol for a meal or trip to the pub.