Pipeline road closure may last 21 days

I have just heard from council roads officers that the road closure caused by the oil pipeline at Netherley is scheduled to run from Wednesday 27 December for a further 21 days. Diversions are signposted.

Here is the update I received this morning on the problems with the Forties pipeline near Netherley, from the owners INEOS.

“INEOS continues to make steady progress towards the safe repair of the Forties Pipeline.

“The precautionary safety cordon remains at 150m. The road to the site (the unclassified CK12 Netherley to Cookney road) remains closed and all non-essential drivers are being requested to seek alternative routes to ensure that the road remains clear for essential works. No issues with security overnight.

“There have been no changes in the crack dimensions since Monday 11th, and the pipeline remains stable.

“Parts for the repair are being procured from numerous suppliers and have begun arriving at the site. More parts will arrive over the next few days.

“The preparation work ahead of the repair is continuing and includes hot work to the external faces of the existing pipe.

“Intrusive repair work has not yet commenced, but is likely to commence tomorrow.

“Progress remains good, and we remain on track to achieve a 2-4 week repair window in line with the original estimate.”

Asda helps local causes

Asda tell me that they have awarded more grants to local good causes.

Abbie Whitelaw, the community champion at Asda Portlethen has secured a local impact grant from the Asda Foundation for the Young at Heart group of £540 for their Christmas lunch.

Meanwhile the green tokens we use at the store resulted recently in Hillside Parents’ Group being awarded £500 for new equipment, PEEPs (Parents as Early Education Partners) toddler group getting £200, and Auchenblae Pre-School Group also receiving £200.

If you know of a project that might benefit contact Abbie.

Councils to deliver benefit payments

The Scottish Government’s new range of devolved benefits will be able to be claimed over the counter at council offices. The roll-out of the 11 benefits, worth around £2.8bn a year, will begin this summer with the Carer’s Allowance Supplement.

Core agency staff will be located in Glasgow and Dundee, however the government wants people to be able to access the benefits “as close to home as possible”.

Meanwhile a deal has been agreed over teachers’ pay after months of negotiations at the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers. Staff will get a 1% rise backdated to April 2017, followed by another 1% rise in January.

Hillside House fire was deliberate

When I drive past the gaunt remains of Hillside House I wonder why the fire happened. Today I received the answer from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

I am told that Police Scotland have not charged anyone in relation to this incident and enquiries are now complete, pending any further information being received.

The fire was discovered at approximately 10.05pm on 26 August last year by a member of the public who had then contacted the fire service. The Georgian-era building had been unoccupied and derelict for a period of time prior to the fire.

The original building sustained severe fire damage throughout. The roof had collapsed and internal floors had also failed then collapsed on to the ground floor. Due to the severe level of fire damage sustained, a physical excavation of the building was not possible due to risk of further collapse.

Police Scotland indicated that there had been previous incidents of anti-social behaviour involving youths at the property.

The conclusion reached from the joint investigation between Police Scotland and the fire service was that this fire would have been caused by deliberate ignition.

Pipeline cordon is reduced

The cordon around the leaking oil pipeline by Netherley has been reduced from 300 metres to 150 metres, but the nearby road stays closed. So good news for local householders, but not so good for drivers. It is still going to take weeks to fix.

The details are in the statement issued by INEOS who own the pipeline:

“Following the controlled shutdown of the Forties Pipeline System on Monday 11th December, INEOS engineers and technicians continue to assess the latest inspection data from the small hairline crack in the pipeline at Red Moss near Netherley, south of Aberdeen.

“Continued assessment of the pipeline since Monday has confirmed that the hairline crack has stabilised and no further growth has been recorded for 48 hours. As a consequence, this morning we have been able to reduce the precautionary safety cordon from 300m down to 150m. This means the five residencies originally located within this area are now no longer within the cordon. The one family that had decided to relocate into temporary accommodation has now returned to their home.

“Given the proximity to the site the unclassified CK12 Netherley to Cookney road remains closed by the police and drivers are still advised to seek alternative routes.

“Safety remains our highest priority and local residents, FPS customers and other stakeholders are all being kept fully informed of the situation as it develops.

“A number of repair options are currently being assessed and developed. At this stage it is still too early to say how long the repair will take to complete, but it is expected to be a matter of weeks rather than days. As expected Force Majeure has been declared on relevant contracts and we continue to work closely with our customers during this period; as well as local communities, Government and other stakeholders.

“We apologise to our customers and the local community for the issues that this creates and we are working hard to minimise the impact of the pipeline closure as far as possible.”

Difficulties emptying the bins

Aberdeenshire Council’s bin collection service is experiencing operational difficulties due to road conditions in various areas across Aberdeenshire. This may mean that some customer’s bins will not be emptied to schedule.

The advice being giving is to leave bins out for 48 hours and staff will attempt to get back. If they have not managed within that period, then take the bin back in and present at the next scheduled collection date when they will accept side waste. Alternatively the recycling centres are open.

Fewer people using local stations

The number of people using railway stations in the North East has fallen.

In recent years the North East has seen significant growth – up from 2.8 million in 2004/05 to more than 6 million in 2014/15. However the figures for 2016/17 now show a fall to 4.93 million.

Each of the North East’s stations saw a reduction in passenger number. Dyce dropped 22% and Aberdeen by 12% (to 3.06 million).

Much of the decline will be as a result of the contraction in the oil and gas industry and the local economy generally.

Locally, the number of people using Portlethen station fell from 56,324 in 2015/16 to 45,936 in 2016/17.

Stonehaven saw its footfall drop from 535,698 to 504,750.

A report to the Nestrans board later today says that whilst the figures are disappointing, it should be recognised that they still represent the sixth highest patronage figures for North East stations since records began, returning to levels similar to 2011/12.

The reports also says: “With significant investment currently being carried out to upgrade the Aberdeen-Inverness line, including dualling the track between Aberdeen and Inverurie; developing a new station at Kintore; the proposal for a cross-Aberdeen service with greater frequencies at many stations; and major new rolling-stock developments, rail passengers will see a step change improvement in service over the next few years.”

Update on pipeline incident

Here is the latest information from INEOS about their bit of bother with the Forties oil pipeline near Netherley. Looks like this is going to take weeks.

“Following controlled shutdown of the Forties Pipeline System on Monday 11th December, INEOS engineers and technicians continue to assess the latest inspection data from the small hairline crack in the pipeline at Red Moss near Netherley, south of Aberdeen.

“A number of repair options are currently being considered and progressed. At this stage, it is still too early to say how quickly the repair will take at this point but it is expected to be a matter of weeks rather than days.

“For the time being, the 300 metre cordon set-up at the site remains in place. The results of the inspections will determine how long the precautionary safety cordon has to remain in place.
Safety remains our highest priority and local residents, FPS customers and other stakeholders are all being kept fully informed of the situation as it develops.

“We continue to work closely with Government and other stakeholders including the local authorities to minimise the impact of the closure as far as possible on communities, our customers and the country.

“We apologise to our customers and communities for the issues that this creates.”

Road closes for three weeks

This afternoon Aberdeenshire Council confirmed an emergency road closure request by Police Scotland affecting the C12K Netherley-Cookney road for a period of 21 days backdated to 6 December.

This is in the interests of public safety. The cause is the leak in the Forties oil pipeline which has been featured in the media.

The diversion route shown in the council map below puzzles me though as the Netherley – Lairhillock – Portlethen road is supposed to be closed during the day for road repairs this week. I have queried that. Repairs would be tad difficult in these weather conditions. There were “Road Closed” signs at the A90 junction earlier today for the diversion route.

UPDATE 13 December – The roads service tell me that “the contractor on the C13K who has the closure in place have been instructed to only work on the section from the A90 to the C24K Quoscies junction so that the C12K diversion can use the C13K.”

The C13K is only to be closed between the hours of 9am and 3pm.