10/03/2023 - Permalink

Cold weather and snow: UPDATE Friday 10 March 10.30am

Related topics: Corporate

A yellow weather warning for ice is currently in place for Shropshire.

Most schools, some leisure centres, some libraries, and all registration offices, are closed due to the snowfall yesterday and overnight. Please see below for more detail.  

School closures  

You can find out more about which schools are closed here: https://www.shropshire.gov.uk/school-closures/   

Library services – some libraries are open for reduced hours 

  • Ellesmere – closed today, and will be closed Saturday 11 March
  • Bridgnorth – closed
  • Market Drayton – closed 
  • Church Stretton – closed
  • All mobile library stops – closed 

Leisure centre closures 

  • Much Wenlock Leisure Centre – now closed all day 
  • Church Stretton Leisure Centre – closed all day 
  • SpArC (Bishop’s Castle) Leisure Centre – closed all day 
  • Ludlow Leisure Centre – open, but 10.45am aqua aerobics is cancelled 
  • Severn Centre, Highley – open as usual, but café is closed

Warm Welcome venues 

It is possible that some Warm Welcome venues across the county will be closed today, for example if staff have difficulty travelling. If you had been planning to visit one of the venues, we recommend that you phone in advance of your journey to check whether they are open or are closing early. Contact details can be found here: Warm Welcome locations | Shropshire Council  

Waste and recycling collections  

There are limited waste and recycling collections this morning and we will be monitoring the situation throughout the day.   

Please make sure that you:  

  • Leave your refuse bin out. If we can’t get to you on your scheduled collection day we’ll come back and collect it as soon as it’s safe to do so. 
  • Take your garden waste bin back in, and put it out on your next scheduled garden waste collection day. 
  • Leave your recycling bin / boxes and blue sacks out (as long as they don’t present a trip hazard). We’ll collect them as soon as it’s safe to do so.

Roads and travel 

Our highways teams have been working round the clock for a few days maintaining priority and secondary routes throughout the county. Kier, our term maintenance contractor, has been out and about gritting the county’s roads many times in the last 72 hours, with over 600 tons of salt used across the network.   

We are ready 

Prior to winter to ensure that we are ready for the challenges the following steps were taken; 

  • 1,800 grit bins – all mapped and restocked prior to winter 
  • 80 trained gritter drivers with just 70 on rota 
  • 25 operational gritters (10T vehicles) 
  • 2 (3.5T vehicles) 

Bus services  

A number of Shropshire bus services have been affected by today’s bad weather. Please see details here: Bus services affected by today’s bad weather – Shropshire Council Newsroom  

Shropshire Local  

Due to weather conditions and staffing challenges Shropshire Local Shrewsbury and Shropshire Local Ludlow are closed today.  

Registration offices  

Births and deaths registration offices are closed today – customers with appointments are being contacted to rearrange.   

Stay safe and well   

The council’s ‘5 ways to winter wellness’ website offers a range of advice and information, from helping vulnerable people to remain safe and well, to notifications of school closures and travel updates. 

The website signposts people to a wide range of both local and national winter-related information which includes: 

  • Stay well this winter – NHS advice – to help those people who are most at risk of illness during winter to take steps to stay well, including make sure you get your flu jab. Pharmacies offer flu vaccinations in Shropshire. 
  • Local information during bad weather – updates and information on traffic, winter road maintenance, road and school closures, what to do if your waste is not collected and services effected by adverse weather 
  • Keep well and warm– Government advice on staying well in cold weather, covering issues such as financial help, healthy lifestyle and heating. 
  • Get Ready for Winter– Met Office advice and information of the dangers posed by winter weather and provide tips and advice on how to minimise its impact. 
  • Winter advice for older people– advice and information from Age UK. 
  • Shropshire Newsroom– news and updates from Shropshire Council. 
  • Rough sleepers – advice on how to let us know if you see someone rough sleeping.

Keep up to date 

For more information on services affected by the weather please visit the council’s website.