Cheshire West, Cheshire East, Warrington and Halton Councils have criticised the government's handling of lockdown school closures in a letter outlining their views on the current coronavirus restrictions and vaccine roll-out.

In the letter, the Council leaders wrote: "The process for partial closure of schools was chaotic and poorly communicated by government, leaving our school staff, parents and pupils to deal with a terrible conflict between the education of children and the protection of public health.

"Our teachers and support staff, supported by our council teams, have been nothing short of heroic.

"But the constantly changing definition of critical workers and vulnerable children, applied inconsistently between schools facing different local circumstances, has again created confusion.

"We would urge the government to settle on a clear set of guidelines based on medical evidence, which schools can apply flexibly in support of their local circumstances.

They also raised concerns over levels of cooperation to the current lockdown restrictions, adding: "Last Spring there was widespread public compliance with a simple and effective message.

"In contrast this time, the clarity of the "stay at home" message is undermined by ambiguity between regulations and guidelines; making public compliance more difficult to secure, and creating challenges for our enforcement authorities.

"For example, regulations enable people to exercise far from home, congregate in beauty-spots and public places, and travel for click-and-collect shopping.

"We would support additional national measures that tighten these areas further, to be implemented alongside further financial support for businesses and their employees, and the self employed.

"We support retaining lockdown until we see a sustained period of reduced infection, the immediate pressures on our hospitals have been resolved, and the vaccine has protected those who are at highest risk of hospital admission and serious illness.

The Council leaders also pointed out that many of Cheshire's over-80s will be unable to reach the Manchester city centre vaccination clinic that opened this week, and suggested that community-based centres would be the key to rapid progress in the county.

The full letter can be read here.