Returning to normal

Things are getting back to normal today after the rain and snow of the past few days, and thankfully the forecast is much more settled now.

Yesterday Kincardine and Mearns area experienced quite a lot of disruption and some flooding.

There were a considerable number of locations where flooding made roads impassable at times. Marykirk was seriously affected with flooding on the road and roads closed. The B979 Netherley Road was at times impassable. There was localised flooding on the South Deeside Road with some houses at risk.

Lairhillock School also experienced flooding at the entrance and the car park.

The River Carron in Stonehaven was at a worrying level but started to fall slowly from about 8pm before getting critical.

Coupled with last week’s severe frost and snow, then localised flooding and heavy rain, there will be a lot of repairs required to the road network. These repairs will take some time.

If you come across a new pothole, please report it at https://online.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/apps/roadconditions/

Road to close for five days

Owing to Select Utilities Ltd laying duct on behalf of BT it will be necessary to close the U67K country road at Stoneyhill, west of Maryculter, on 19 March for five days.

Emergency and pedestrian access to be maintained. Vehicular access to affected properties to be maintained whenever possible.

Sheep worrying: two charged

Two women have been charged following two separate alleged incidents of sheep-worrying, both on Friday 2 March, according to a statement from Police Scotland.
The police says that a 47-year-old woman has been charged and will be reported to the Procurator Fiscal following an incident in the Netherley area at around 11am which involved a Husky-type dog. The incident resulted in the death of five sheep as well as injuries to several other sheep.
The statement goes on to say that a 24-year-old woman has also been charged and will be reported to the Procurator Fiscal following a second separate sheep-worrying incident at around 12pm in the Stonehaven area.  No sheep were killed as a result of this incident however they were chased and distressed by a Gordon Setter-type dog.
PC Liam Mercer said: “Sheep-worrying type incidents obviously have a financial impact on the farmers as well as causing distress to the other animals.
“Farmers are legally entitled to protect their livestock which can result in the destruction of a dog by shooting it.  While no farmer wishes to resort to this option it is an option available and one that could quite easily be avoided if owners ensure that they have proper control of their dogs.
“Anyone with concerns or information regarding a sheep-worrying incident should contact police on 101.”
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A campaign was launched on 1 February by Police Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, NFU Scotland, Scottish Land & Estates, The National Sheep Association and the Kennel Club, to raise awareness among dog owners about the effects of livestock-worrying.
The campaign runs until the end of May and seeks to highlight to dog owners who live in or walk their dogs in the countryside that they must act responsibly, keep their dogs under close control and avoid going into fields where livestock is grazing.
The campaign leaflet can be viewed hers: http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/publications/access/Dog%20campaign%20Owners%20Leaflet%20(Jess%20the%20Dog).pdf

Bettridge’s birthday party

The birthday cake about to be cut, marking the 15 years since the Bettridge Centre in Newtonhill was opened.

Manager Louise Shepherd-Burnett was doing the honours at the coffee morning.

The original part of the Bettridge was called the Newtonhill Community Hall. A huge campaign was launched at the turn of the century to expand into what you see today, and it was then renamed the Bettridge Centre, after the inlet which bites into the Coastal Park. The official opening of the Bettridge Centre took place on 1 March 2003.

You can find out more about the Bettridge including what’s on offer at https://www.facebook.com/Bettridge.Centre/

Council services and the winter blast

Here is an update on Aberdeenshire Council services during this Siberian blast.
No major issues expected over the weekend and hopefully closer to normality by Monday – accepting there will still be snow around.
Contact centres and service points have been functioning but at reduced staffing levels.
Two schools opened today: St Colm’s and Braemar. Education officers are co-ordinating with Roads & Landscape teams in an attempt to ensure school estates are open as far as possible on Monday.
Weather conditions remained challenging today on the roads with further frequent snow showers and strong winds leading to drifting. In Kincardine & Mearns, the B974 Cairn O Mount snowgates were closed. Primary routes are still being ploughed and gritted as necessary The A92 was open although there are snow drifts being continually cleared by ploughs and JCBs. The  A937 was closed at Marykirk although cars were going through the closure.
The roads treatment plan for tomorrow (Saturday) sees all primary routes and main footways being treated from 05:40. Secondary route treatment will recommence at 08:00 once primary routes are cleared.
Roads and footway treatment crews have had a hard few days in testing conditions and this will continue into the weekend.  Additional resources have been mobilised across Roads, Landscape and Waste Services for Saturday and Sunday working.
In terms of homelessness, any presentations are being housed in the first instance to prevent anyone being out in the cold.
Recycling centres have been very quiet since Wednesday, with only five open today due to staffing issues: Inverurie, Westhill, Banchory, Huntly and Ellon.
UPDATE, Saturday: Aberdeenshire Council recycling centres at Portlethen and Laurencekirk remain shut today. The waste service is prioritising Stonehaven RC with the staff who are available.
Many waste collection routes were affected over past few days with properties (especially rural) missed. Today (Friday) seems the worst day so far. No collections vehicles were sent out today from the Stonehaven depot due to the weather conditions and roads. The plan is to accept extra material at the next scheduled collections.

Broadband pledge welcomed

National communications regulator Ofcom has announced that broadband providers will have to give a minimum guaranteed internet speed to potential customers, at the point of sale.
 
Under the new requirements, providers that don’t deliver the minimum guaranteed speed will have 30 days to improve speeds before they must let customers walk away without penalty. This protection also applies to cable broadband customers who experience particularly wide variations in speeds during peak times.
 
North East MSP Mike Rumbles – who has been active in pressing for better services – commented: “The new Ofcom measures are absolutely right. Particularly for homes in rural communities that have been left behind by commercial operators and the Scottish Government’s roll-out of fibre internet.
 
“For too long customers in areas such as Aberdeenshire have been promised adequate internet speeds only to find themselves locked into a contract that does not meet their requirements. There is still a long way to go and the progress so far has been disappointing. We need far more action by both commercial operators and the Scottish Government to deliver superfast internet to every home but the announcement today marks an important and welcome mile-stone.”
 

Keep in touch as blizzards continue

Some links which may be useful as the weather continues to grip Aberdeenshire.
School closure page on the council website: https://online.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/Apps/schools-closures/
MyAberdeenshire link to sign up for school closure alerts: http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/my/
You can keep track of local roads information on twitter at @abshireroads and for trunk roads at @netrunkroads
The council advises that we should still put our bins out if they are due to be uplifted, however some collections have been affected by the weather so far this week. As we are expecting more severe weather in the next few days, if your bin is missed then we will not be able to return until the next scheduled collection for that material. We will be accepting extra material at that collection.
The mobile library service visiting communities in the Kincardine & Mearns and Marr areas will be off road today due to the adverse weather conditions.

Nearly 4000 respond to recycling survey

A survey aimed at improving recycling and waste services in Aberdeenshire has now closed.

It ran throughout February, gathering 3,923 responses which will now feed into future decisions on the approach to recycling and waste.

Six focus groups were also held across the region which allowed residents to give more detailed feedback on the proposals.

Residents gave their views on how Aberdeenshire Council services could be improved to boost the region’s recycling rate – currently 43.5% – and how to send less materials to landfill.

A recent waste analysis showed around 30,000 tonnes of materials that could be recycled using existing services are currently sent to landfill at the cost of around £3.5 million per year.

Possible changes put to residents to encourage the use of existing recycling services included introducing smaller kerbside landfill bins, less frequent collections of the current landfill bin, or both.

In addition, a new-look service could include opt-in garden waste collections from householders – either made possible by less frequent uplifts of landfill waste or as a paid-for service for those opting in.

The council’s recycling and waste team will now analyse the results from the survey and focus groups. These results and other considerations, including cost and operational viability, will feed into a future recycling and waste strategy.

A formal public consultation will be then held on that draft strategy to seek residents’ opinions, as well as those of councillors on the council’s six area committees in the autumn.

Any changes required as a result of the formal consultation will be made to the draft strategy, which will then go to the council’s Infrastructure Services Committee and Full Council for further discussion and decision.

Bad news over credit union

North East Scotland Credit Union (Nescu) has gone into administration. The administrator has confirmed that the credit union had ceased trading and is not expected to re-open. Nescu had some 2600 members.

Anyone who has savings with Nescu is guaranteed to have their funds returned. All of the credit union’s savers will have their balances returned by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Savers should look out for a letter in the post from the FSCS in the next few days.