Denbighshire County Council is reassuring residents that every effort possible is being made to continue delivering services during the current severe winter weather.
Teams of staff have been out and about the county overnight gritting main A roads and once they are fully cleared, work will start on gritting some of the ‘B’ roads and rural areas during the day.
There is currently about 1,000 tonnes of salt stocks in store, which is enough to be treating the priority routes for the coming days. At this stage, the council does not have sufficient resources to be able to salt the county’s minor estate roads
Nationally, roadsalt suppliers are struggling to meet the demand for further deliveries. For that reason, the supply chain is now being managed centrally by the Welsh Assembly Government. Denbighshire is expecting more stocks to arrive, although it is not known when at this stage.
In the meantime, the Council is urging motorists to take extreme care whilst travelling in the region today and with more wintry weather on the way, we would ask people to keep an eye on forecasts and act accordingly.
- Refuse collectors are working today as usual, but there are likely to be some delays to collections, as the bin wagons cannot access some areas due to the icy conditions.
- 61 out of 63 schools in Denbighshire have closed (Carrog and Bodnant Infants, Prestatyn remain open)
- All school transport has been cancelled for today (Wednesday) and anyone thinking of travelling on public transport should contact their bus operators or Denbighshire’s Passenger Transport team, on 01824 706968 before venturing out from their homes.
Arriva has confirmed that all their services are running, except the following which are not operating:
- Service 11 – not operating into Gronant, Maes Pennant or Ffynnongroew
- Services 35/36 – not operating into Dyserth
- Services 51 – operating between Rhyl – Denbigh – Ruthin only
- Rhyl Local Services – only operating on main roads and not operating into the housing estates
GHA Coaches have announced that a number of services are affected and they are operating on main roads only.
- Service 1 – operating on the hour from Ruthin to Mold direct and half-past the hour from Mold to Ruthin
- Service X50/X52 – first journeys just gone out on the roads and attempting to operate to Rhyl and Wrexham, but NOT serving Llanrhaeadr village, Brookhouse or St Asaph Business Park
Voel Coaches say Service 38 (Prestatyn Town Service) is currently operating, but on main roads only and NOT going into the housing estates.
There will be no day care for older people in Ruthin, Denbigh, Rhyl or Prestatyn today. Contact has been made with service users/families to advise and check on well-being. Homecare is happening as usual, as are meals on wheels.
Denbigh Library is closed today due to staff being unable to get into work.
Leader of Denbighshire, Councillor Hugh Evans, said: “The snow and ice that has affected the North Wales region over the past 24 hours has placed tremendous pressure on our services in Denbighshire, and if the current freezing weather persists, we will have to use the salt available to the best of our ability.
“I would like to take the opportunity to publicly thank teams of staff who have been working around the clock in difficult circumstances to try and deliver as many services as possible, gritting roads, dealing with numerous telephone enquiries and providing advice and information to staff on dealing with the exceptional circumstances.
“I would ask that members of the public only contact the Council if their call is urgent until the weather has improved. This will help us greatly in responding to the priority calls and to get everyone in the county a chance to get moving.”
The latest information on the weather situation in Denbighshire will appear on the website: www.denbighshire.gov.uk
