FOLLOWING the announcement yesterday by PM Boris Johnson that non essential shops will be allowed to open from 15 of June – the region's biggest shopping centre, intu Lakeside, has announced what its stores will be doing to meet safety demands.

It includes placing limits on the number of people and cars allowed into the centre at a time, with some parking bays closed, and there will be a raft of other measures including one-way systems, floor stickers and staff training to ensure visitors stay socially distanced.

Enhanced hygiene regimes that were introduced at the start of the outbreak will continue, with more deep cleaning of key areas and touchpoints like escalators, toilets and keypads.

A spokesperson said: "These measures have remained in place while intu Lakeside provides vital access to essential services such as pharmacies, food stores and banks during the lockdown period. Hand sanitation stands will also remain at entrances and other locations throughout the centre for visitors to use during their visit.

"And intu Lakeside staff will be given personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep them safe."

Matthew Roberts, chief executive of intu, said: "intu is the biggest landlord for most of our brand customers so we have been working to help them plan the reopening of their stores as soon and as safely as they can.

"Experts from across intu have formed a specialist taskforce who have considered everything we need to run intu Lakeside and our others centres as safely as possible, with a series of central, common principles for the portfolio and individual plans for each centre. This includes working with our brand customers and providing them with all the support they need to reopen safely, as well as new social distancing and hygiene procedures to keep everyone who visits or works in our centres safe.

"We know we cannot do this alone and everyone who visits our centres whether for work or to shop will play their part in keeping themselves and each other safe by following the official guidelines, and the instructions and safety information provided by our teams.

"Our teams have been working incredibly hard to keep our centres clean and safe during the lockdown and we are hugely grateful to them, and we would also like to thank our brand customers and visitors for all their cooperation and patience so far."