Outdoor Exercise

Please allow people living together to do outdoor exercise such as hill walking, walking on beaches etc - people doing these activites are generally very spread out in open spaces with 10s or 100s of metres distance, so any transmission risk is extremely low.

Why the contribution is important

Many local walks near Dundee such as Balkello Hill, Backmuir Woods have had their carparks closed off. My partner was even turned away by police from running on a nearby beach, because he had driven there (He's a doctor, was working night shifts and just wanted to get some quick exercise in before going back to work).

This means that in order to walk/run with my dog for my daily exercise, I have to go to the local park, which in recent weeks has been incredibly busy. The width of the paths means that it can be impossible to keep a 2m distance.

In contrast, if you go hill walking or for a walk on a beach you are on a wide open space, where it is much easier to keep a wider distance from everyone else. This would actually be safer than making everyone use the same small parks for their exercise.

Physical activity is important for physical and mental health, especially in times like this. Please encourage safe and sensible outdoor exercise where the risk of transmission would be extremely low.

by xeisd on May 08, 2020 at 02:36PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 4.5
Based on: 9 votes

Comments

  • Posted by NadineH May 08, 2020 at 14:52

    Ideally people should exercise locally so as to spread out the pressure on particular areas but limits could be imposed on the numbers on beaches, beauty spots etc though not sure how this would be policed. It really depends how long the restrictions go on for, as months down the line there would be a stronger argument for more flexibility. Green spaces such as golf courses and school playing fields should be open for walkers rather than golfers as per the 'right to roam'.
    Limiting daily exercise to 1 hour is presumably to reduce overcrowding but dog walkers can go out more often so there is a lack of logic there. Two exercise periods a day?

  • Posted by JBAKER May 08, 2020 at 14:52

    I think key workers should have more leeway as to where they go for exercise.
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