PEOPLE in Ledbury have been preparing to emerge from the coronavirus lockdown, with town sites including the market and the skate park re-opening.

The town’s Tuesday and Saturday market re-opened in the High Street on Tuesday, June 2 with the skate park re-opening on Monday, June 1.

These formed part of the town’s plans to recover from the coronavirus crisis.

Though only two traders were there this week, the council is hopeful more will return as more information is made available about social distancing.

A town council spokesman said: “To ensure social distancing is managed we have purchased some pop up signs and some stickers for the pavement, which we will be putting onto rubber matting so that they can be put out and taken in before and after the market.

“As we only had the two stalls back yesterday it was fairly easy to manage a queuing system for the two stalls.

“This may prove to be more difficult in the future with more stalls and the shops being allowed to reopen.

“But we will work closely with the shop owners to help manage this and we are putting things in place to assist the stall holders and members of the public, who are themselves managing the social distancing very well, and we are asking traders to make sure they have hand sanitiser available on their stalls.

“It was good to see the town starting to come to life at last, and whilst we appreciate that not all traders want to return just yet, we look forward to them returning in the not too distant future.

“We have also had some enquiries for a couple of potential new stall holders who are interested in joining us.”

The council said it had also decided to reopen the skate park in Long Acres after receiving many enquiries.

The council said it had taken into consideration advice issued on the government’s website and users have been told they must understand and follow the government’s guidance.

Posters have been put up advising people how to stay safe and regular inspections of the park are being carried out to ensure social distancing and safe skating are being carried out.