Tag: shutdown

STORM EOWYN: BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES AS RED ALERT DECLARED

SCOTLAND SHUTTING DOWN

The Met Office has issued a red weather warning for wind from 10am to 5pm Friday 24 January. An Amber warning is in place from 6am to 10am.

COUNCIL SERVICES:

We will publish all the latest information about Council buildings and services on this page.

Schools, nurseries and early years

All Council schools, nurseries and early years settings will be closed on Friday 24 January. Schools will communicate directly with parents.

Bin collections 

Bin collections – residents should not put their wheelie bins and boxes out for collection tomorrow. Friday collections will run over the weekend instead.

Residents should put their bins out for collection on Saturday when it is safe to do so for collection from Sunday. 

Street cleansing will not operate.

Recycling centres – any bookings for recycling centres will be rescheduled 

Special uplift services – residents who have booked a collection for tomorrow should not put the items out for collection. Appointments will be rebooked.  

Housing and homelessness

Anyone who needs to present as homeless should contact us by phone on 0131 529 7036.  

Only emergency council house repairs will take place. Non-emergency council house repairs will be cancelled and re-scheduled. 

Scaffolding will be checked and taken down if possible.  

Council buildings, services and parks

We will only run essential services on Friday 24 January.

The following buildings or parks/grounds will be closed on Friday 24 January:

  • The Registrars Office 
  • All council cemeteries, Mortonhall Crematorium, and the Mortuary
  • All museums, galleries, monuments and cultural venues (Usher Hall, Assembly Rooms, Churchill Theatre – this includes cancellation of a rehearsal and performance at the Churchill Theatre).  Building checks will be carried out before reopening.
  • Lauriston Castle grounds and Princes Street Gardens. These will also remain closed on Saturday due to extended wind warning and time needed to survey grounds.
  • Ukraine Welcome Hub at Flassches Yard.

Travel disruption

Police Scotland has issued a ‘do not travel’ notice. Police Scotland travel advice 

Lothian Buses expect significant disruption to their services and customers are advised to check the status of their service before travelling. 

Scot Rail is suspending all train services tomorrow and there will be no alternative transport available. 

For travel updates check @edintravel and @TrafficScotland on X (Twitter) as well as your travel provider.

Emergency social care service 0800 731 6969 – free phone.

NHS LOTHIAN:

EDINBURGH TRAMS:

Due to the red weather warning in place across Edinburgh tomorrow due to #StormÉowyn, Edinburgh Trams will be operating a reduced service on Friday 24 January. We will be monitoring wind speeds at key places on the track and will continue to operate in order to facilitate essential travel as long as it remains safe to do so.

Please follow @PoliceScotland guidelines and only travel if absolutely necessary.

Customers are advised to check the status of their service before travelling on Friday and Saturday, using the Bus & Tram App.

More information: https://bit.ly/3Wx6TMq

LOTHIAN BUSES

CUSTOMER INFORMATION

Service Updates

http://lothianbuses.com/service-updates/… Bus & Tram App

http://lothianbuses.com/app/

Nightclubs to close in Scotland

Nightclubs will close from 27 December to tackle the transmission of Omicron which continues to spread rapidly.

The measure follows feedback from nightclubs on the impact of incoming restrictions needed to slow the spread of Omicron. It will affect around 150 clubs and will be reviewed after three weeks.

Nightclub premises will have the option of opening to operate with table service and physical distancing, in line with the requirements for other hospitality businesses.

Deputy First Minister John Swinney said: “Having engaged with the sector, we have concluded nightclubs should close.

“While it would be open to them to operate with physical distancing and table service – and that option will remain – we believe closure in regulations, combined with financial support, could reduce losses and help nightclubs weather what we hope will be a short period until they are able to operate normally again.

“The Scottish Government is acutely aware of the financial implications for many businesses. We will work with the nightclub industry to develop targeted financial support for businesses that will now be required to close. 

“We are providing additional support of £375 million, including £100 million announced last week, to support businesses directly impacted by Omicron and will publish a full breakdown and allocation of funding as soon as possible.”

The regulations come into effect at 05:00 on 27 December.

Scotland’s night time economy ‘on brink of collapse’

The Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) is warning of an impending unemployment tsunami, with up to 24,000 jobs thought to be at risk within weeks, as a majority of struggling night-time economy businesses have now run out of cash to pay furlough contributions and fixed costs. 

The Scottish Government released the latest Strategic Framework update on Friday, which confirmed businesses will be subject to the commercially unviable levels system of restrictions for many months longer despite all financial support being withdrawn by the end of April.

Worse still, there is no commitment or target date for the return to commercially viable trading for businesses in the sector, which is only possible when social distancing and all other legal restrictions end.

A survey this month of NTIA members confirmed the perilous state the sector is now in, with average Covid related debt reaching a wholly unsustainable £150,000 or more per premises, and businesses facing an imminent cash flow crunch.

The survey also confirmed that less than a quarter of premises have licensed outdoor areas, the vast majority are many months behind on rent or mortgage payments, fewer than a third have been able to trade viably at any point in the last year, and almost all cannot reopen or trade viably while social distancing remains.

These businesses have now exhausted financial resources. Cash reserves have been depleted, more borrowing is now impossible with no guaranteed opening dates and businesses are rapidly running out of cash to pay their fixed costs and furlough contributions.

Business insolvencies and mass job losses are now inevitable within weeks unless the Scottish Government acts urgently. The NTIA wrote to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon earlier this month highlighting the issues and requesting immediate crisis talks.

It is beyond disappointing that as yet we have had no response whatsoever.

NTIA Spokesman Gavin Stevenson said: “Our members have done the right thing, closed their previously successful businesses for the sake of public health, and gone deep into debt paying the enormous fixed costs and furlough contributions to keep staff employed for over a year now.  

“We were the first to close and will be last to open.  No sector has suffered more.  But Government have consistently taken our sector for granted and refused to engage meaningfully with our representatives.

“Many of our members have been closed for over a year now, and virtually all have suffered crippling financial losses.  In short, the money going out every month has been far greater than the money coming in, and government support has typically covered less than a quarter of this deficit.

“To add insult to injury government support has now ended while there is no end date to forced closure and other restrictions.  Scottish Government now only has two options, provide substantial and immediate additional support for as long as it is mandated that our businesses stay closed and/or operate under the restrictions that make them unviable, or provide a clear route map with target dates for the end of all legal restrictions on capacity, activity, and opening hours.  

“If neither of those options are forthcoming then our First Minister is, in effect, asking thousands of small Scottish business owners to bankrupt themselves.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will make a statement this afternoon. She is expected to confirm the latest easing of restrictions will take place next Monday (26 April) and will include the reopening of hospitality, gyms and non-essential shops.

Edinburgh MSP raises concerns over UK-wide companies encouraging return to work

An SNP MSP has urged businesses in Scotland not to call staff back to work early while the coronavirus lockdown remains in place.

Gordon MacDonald, MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, raised concerns that some organisations which operate in Scotland are now encouraging employees to return to work, contrary to official Scottish Government advice.

The UK government is asking those who cannot work from home in England to start returning to the workplace. But the First Minister said she was “not yet encouraging more people to go back to work” in Scotland so that we can continue to protect our NHS and save lives.

Scottish businesses will be able to reopen as soon as they can safely do so, and the Scottish Government is working with employers and trade unions to set out how staff could return to work safely and as soon as possible.

Gordon MacDonald MSP said: “The Scottish Government has been clear and consistent in its advice to stay at home except for essential purposes, and is not yet encouraging people to go back to work so that we can protect our NHS and save lives. 

“However, it is concerning that some UK-wide companies, which have sites and employees based in Scotland, appear to be encouraging employees to return to work.

“It’s absolutely vital that the UK Government makes it clear that companies should following official guidelines from the devolved administrations, now that slight variations between Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and England exist.

“We still have a long way to go to overcome this crisis. I would ask that all employers in Edinburgh and across Scotland follow Scottish government guidance, and I am very grateful that the vast majority of employers have been doing so throughout this pandemic.”