Weather disruption - 15 January 2024

A round up of bad weather service disruptions today, 15 January 2024:

Road and transport issues:

Road closure tomorrow on A965 near Stromness (Howe Road)

The A965 (Kirkwall-Stromness road) will be closed between Brig O Waithe and Howe Road (the road up over the brae to Stromness) tomorrow 16 January, to allow recovery of a vehicle. A full road closure will be in place between 11am and 12:30pm – with drivers advised to travel via Dounby (A986 and A967) instead.

Bus services

Stagecoach advises that as at 4:00pm on 15 January all services are currently operating, but due to the deteriorating weather conditions, services are being suspended from 18:30 for the rest of the evening. All services are under review for tomorrow morning.

A general reminder, as these wintry conditions look set to continue right through to the end of this week, for motorists to drive to conditions and make sure they and their vehicles are well prepared and mindful of the possibility of drifting and accumulations of snow.

Waste/recycling collections:

Despite best efforts, our refuse and recycling crews were unable to collect refuse/recycling from the following roads today (Monday 15 January) due to challenging conditions:

• Area 1 - Blackhill and Hatston Park
• Area 9 – Netherton Rd
• Area 6 – Braebuster Rd and part of the side road of the Link Rd

The severe weather we’re experiencing is forecast to continue over coming days too - this means we’ll be dealing with other knock-on effects such as increased gritting operations, on top of tricky and slower collections. We are therefore very unlikely to be able to re-collect.

The general advice for householders affected is to hold onto their waste/recycling until their next scheduled collection, or visit a Household Waste and Recycling Centre (HWRC) - and offer to help any neighbours/friends/family who you know might struggle with either of these options.

The best place to check for any updates on bin disruptions is www.orkney.gov.uk/news and www.facebook.com/oicupdates

To check HWRC opening times, go to www.orkney.gov.uk/hwrc