Exasperated Bracknell councillors called for more enforcement as they discussed options to tackle the concerning spread of Covid in the town at a meeting last night.

At Bracknell Forest Council's (BFC) Local Outbreak Engagement Board, councillors called for stronger messages and tougher enforcement of the coronavirus rules.

The latest figures show the rate of infection is now 200.7 cases per 100,000 in the last seven days, which puts Bracknell in the top 50 areas in England. 

Councillors raised concern about children mixing outside of school, as well as inside.

Around 31 per cent of recent cases in Bracknell are among the under 18s, a much higher percentage than in other local authorities in Berkshire.

Last week, leader of the council Paul Bettison warned the rise is “being driven by younger people”.

He also said: “I feel very sorry for anybody who grows up knowing they killed an elderly relative.”

READ MORE: Stark warning as young people said to be driving covid-19 case rise in Bracknell Forest

But while the outbreaks have recently been largely among schools, Bracknell Forest public health officer Charlotte Pavitt said over half of cases are now occuring in household clusters, which means “it has started to spread out into the wider community”.

Six weeks ago, the council agreed to try to engage with people and then start enforcing the rules if people did not engage.

Councillor Marc Brunel-Walker said: “We have tried softly softly.

“It doesn’t work. We’ve got rising numbers and people are going into Christmas seeing confusing messages from the government and all over the place.

“We need to start telling people not asking them. This is follow the damn rules or you will be fined.

“Unless we change something, come January we are going to face a hell of a problem here.

“It’s insane. I don’t know what to do. If it’s down to the police to issue the fines and start going after people, it is about making an example of someone.

He added: “How many fines have we issued? If we have done, none of them have been made public.”

Timothy Wheadon, chief executive of BFC, said police have the powers to enforce social isolation, not the council, but added that the council is asking the government for extra funding to increase its contact tracing so it can follow-up on cases.

READ MORE: Bracknell Covid case numbers almost double - highest peak since start of pandemic

Councillor Peter Heydon suggested a lack of police presence may be behind the rise in cases.

He said: “Why is it happening to us? It seems to me other authorities aren’t have the same problems that young people aren’t behaving themselves.

“I am getting constant feedback within my ward that the police are not in evidence at all.

“We don’t seem to have enough authority figures around the town centre. I sometimes get the impression they are being diverted to other parts of Berkshire or Thames Valley.”

But Mr Wheadon said the council "needs to be careful" about what it tries to commit the police to doing.

He added: “The other thing we need to be careful is I would like to see the evidence that young people are behaving differently in other areas.

“The overriding problem is the mixed messaging and confusion in national policy.”