Aberdeenshire Council ends 'major incident' but emergency response efforts continue

Aberdeenshire Council has taken the decision to end its ‘major incident’, which it stood up last Tuesday as a result of major snowfall affecting all parts of Aberdeenshire, but the Council remains alert to the on-going needs of communities in a heightened state of emergency response. 

The decision to declare a major incident, largely an administrative action, allowed the Council to redeploy resources to focus on supporting communities, predominantly through restoring connectivity, supporting particularly vulnerable individuals and warning and informing people to prepare and respond to the emerging weather conditions. 

During the peak of activity, waste crews and other Council staff were redeployed to snow clearance, supporting the council’s existing roads team, along with 170 farmers and contractors bought in by the Council to add important capacity. Major snow clearing equipment was received from Amey as part of a mutual aid request, along with a snow cutter from Tayside Contracts and other smaller snow clearing kit also being brought in from other councils who have been less affected by the current weather conditions. A Care for People Group focused on ensuring the most vulnerable people in our communities were safe and supported, and that activity will continue, working alongside families, carers and neighbours as we return to business as usual. 

With many schools and health care services expected to reopen on Monday, the Council feels the worst of the impacts are now over. Whilst the major incident has now been brought to an end, the Council is still supporting an emergency response in terms of the level of additional activity still underway, with more staff redeployed to clear paths, fire exits and car parks around schools, care homes, very sheltered and sheltered housing complexes to enable them to operate safely. Council activity will begin to move towards business as usual through this week, with a focus on getting on top of waste collections which have been severely impacted since Hogmanay. 

Warnings are also in place from the Met Office and SEPA for snow melt and high winds. Property owners are responsible for the protection of their own property, and action is essential to reduce the risk of damage. 

Chief Executive, Jim Savege explained the reason for moving away from a major incident at this time. “We have responded to five amber weather warnings in very quick succession, resulting in snowfall, freezing temperatures and a prolonged period of winter weather. What we have experienced over the past 2 weeks has far exceeded what we would consider as part of our routine winter maintenance programme and it has required an extraordinary effort from the Council, our partners, farmers, contractors, communities and individuals. As ever, our residents have shown remarkable resilience and have supported each other throughout this period. The declaration of a major incident supports us in reallocating resources to where the need is greatest, along with making mutual aid requests to other agencies and councils. 

“Whilst we have stood down our major incident, we are still very conscious that there is more to do before we are back to normal. There is a significant risk of flooding on our networks as the snow melts, and there is a forecast for more snow, rain and high winds – all this means the Council will continue to work with a heightened state of emergency response. But with all communities now reconnected through our main roads network, and good progress on clearing smaller routes and opening access to our smallest settlements, we have returned the snow clearing kit to Amey and others. The focus now moves onto the use of smaller machinery better suited to clearing residential streets and pavements.  

“Our winter maintenance arrangements remain in place and we will continue to deploy our extensive fleet of road and pavement gritters in response to emerging weather conditions, including activating contracted assistance from our network of Farmer and Agri Contractor ploughs, particularly as we anticipate more snow, rain and high winds in the coming week. 

“Our most sincere thanks go to everyone for their perseverance and support over the last few weeks, the response and community resilience to this weather has been, and continues to be, truly a team effort.”