Met Office issues further weather warning

The Met Office has issued a Yellow Weather Warning for snow and ice. Details are:

Between 12:00 (UTC) on Thu 21 Nov 2024 and 10:00 (UTC) on Fri 22 Nov 2024 Headline Wintry showers and icy patches are expected this evening and overnight, perhaps leading to some travel disruption

What to expect

• Some roads and railways likely to be affected with longer journey times by road, bus and train services
• Probably some icy patches on some untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths
• Some injuries from slips and falls on icy surfaces

Further Details

Wintry showers are expected to gradually move south this afternoon, then feeding inland from Irish Sea and North Sea coasts at times this evening and overnight, especially through the Cheshire Gap to affect parts of the Midlands and north Wales. Where these occur 2-5cm of fresh snow is possible, with this most likely on ground above 100m.

Icy stretches are expected to form on untreated surfaces during Thursday evening and overnight into Friday morning as temperatures drop below freezing, especially following any showers.

 

What should I do

Snowy, wintry weather can cause delays and make driving conditions dangerous. Keep yourself and others safe by planning your route, giving yourself extra time for your journey. Check for road closures or delays to public transport and amend plans if necessary.

Keep yourself and your family safe when it is icy. Plan to leave the house at least five minutes earlier than normal. Not needing to rush, reduces your risk of accidents, slips, and falls.

If driving, make sure you have some essentials in your car in the event of any delays (e.g., warm clothing, food, water, a blanket, a torch, ice scraper/de-icer, a warning triangle, high visibility vest and an in-car phone charger).

If you need to make a journey on foot, try to use pavements along main roads which are likely to be less slippery. Similarly, if cycling, try and stick to main roads which are more likely to have been treated.

Be prepared for weather warnings to change quickly: when a weather warning is issued, the Met Office recommends staying up to date with the weather forecast in your area.

UK weather warnings - Met Office

Denbighshire County Council says it has resources on standby throughout the warning period to respond to any weather-related incidents should they arise. 

It adds that further updates will be provided if deemed necessary.

Please report any issues to the council's Customer Service Team between 8:30am – 5pm Monday to Friday, by:

1) email to customerservice@denbighshire.gov.uk

2) telephone 01824 706000

3) visit in person a One Stop Shop.

4) use an online web form, available on Denbighshire’s website:

www.denbighshire.gov.uk/en/online-forms/online-forms.aspx

In the event of any emergency situation requiring an immediate response, contact should be made directly via the out of hours contact centre between 5pm – 8:30am including weekends on 0300 123 3068.

 

Annual Christmas quiz papers available soon

For the 18th year Llangollen will be staging a Christmas Quiz on behalf of Cancer Research UK. 

Organiser Judy Smith said: "After all this time it's still only £1 - although you might consider a donation - and it will be the quiz paper will be obtainable from the Tourist Information Centre in Castle Street from November 30."

Judy, who also organises the Llangollen Round Challenge also in aid of Cancer Research UK, said entries were still flooding in for the next event, which is scheduled for the weekend of May 31/June 1 2025.

She added: "We have almost three times the number we had on the same date last time round.  

"Be forewarned - there will be a limit! But we thank you all for your support in both our ventures."

County council gives fresh Adverse Weather Update

Denbighshire County Council has given a new Adverse Weather Update on its social media this morning, which says:

Further snow showers have been experienced during the early hours of this morning.

Our gritting teams have worked hard throughout the night to keep the road network clear. All main routes across the County are currently open and passable with care.

The yellow weather alert for snow and ice is still in place.

Our Highways crews will be deployed throughout the day today.

For more information on our gritting routes visit:

https://bit.ly/3AZXmpr

Llan's celebrity cat Raymond makes it to the BBC

Raymond, Llangollen's celebrity wandering cat, has made it to BBC News Wales.

An online story describes how the famous ginger tom has become a social media star in his home town thanks to his many adventures.

* For the full story, see: Raymond the ginger cat becomes a local celebrity in Llangollen - BBC News

Town council approves possible solution to save toilets

* Market Street toilets: a possible solution was approved by the Town Council last night.

Town councillors have approved a plan to work together with the county council in a bid to save Llangollen's under-threat public toilets. 

Suggestions that the Market Street conveniences could close along with all the others across the county in a bid to dig Denbighshire out of a massive financial black hole have caused deep concern in the town since they were revealed by llanblogger a few months ago.

A public meeting was called to hammer out the issue back in the summer with many people voicing their fears about the damage any loss of the toilets would mean to Llangollen businesses relying heavily on the tourism trade and also to residents themselves.

Although the meeting was inconclusive local MP Becky Gittins and Senedd Member Ken Skates have revealed they have been working behind the scenes to secure an amicable solution to the problem.

The Town Council has also been looking closely at the financial situation to see if anything can be done.

A possible answer was put forward in the agenda for the town council meeting last night (Tuesday), as llanblogger revealed recently.

A budgetary report from town clerk Gareth Thomas, which was considered by councillors, says: “In addition to the Town Council’s reserve requirements through continued working with the County Council to fulfil the Town Council and residents’ desires that the County Council continue to provide toilet facilities in Llangollen a solution has been proposed.”

The report adds: “The county council have indicated that if they can convert the existing toilets on Market Street to cashless operation and variable summer and winter opening times then this will reduce cost which will allow for the continued provision of the service.

“However, to facilitate this capital works are required to the building and the county council is applying to the Brilliant Basics Fund which assists in the provision of small-scale tourism infrastructure improvements across Wales and is open to local authorities and national park authorities.

“Total grant available is £300,000 with a maximum intervention rate of 80%. There is no minimum grant amount.

“The estimated cost of the works to upgrade the toilet facilities to allow for cashless payment is in the region of £40,000.

“During discussions with the county council, it was clear that a joint application would be looked upon more favourably and therefore it is proposed that the town council would contribute to the match funding requirement to a maximum of 10% and provision has made in the asset specific reserve to facilitate such a contribution in 2025-26.”

Town councillors agreed unanimously last night to take £4,000 from their reserves to make the 10% contribution towards the £40,000. 

The Town Clerk said he confident there was sufficient money in the reserves to cover the amount.

Cllr Jon Haddy said a move to a more efficient system could have been made by the county council in the past.

He added that while not many Llangollen people actually used the toilets and that they were used mainly as a support for local tourism, he had no problem with the suggested solution.

Cllr Scott Felton made the point that lots of the visitors who used the toilets were elderly and therefore didn't have the credit or debit cards to use in a cashless system.

He also asked what would happen to the three members of staff who currently work at the toilets.

The Town Clerk said: "We can't answer that and if we don't go down this route there will be no staff.

"Our contribution would be just an investment in the building."

The Mayor, Cllr Aled Morris, stressed: "The toilets would be still owned and run by the county council."    

Changes announced to local Citizens Advice service

The following changes have been announced to the service offered by Denbighshire Citizens Advice:

County council issues advice on waste collections hit by weather

Denbighshire County Council says that due to the adverse weather some of its scheduled waste collections in areas including Llangollen may have not been completed.

In a message to residents it says: "Our recycling crews have encountered some road access issues on smaller, more rural, roads during some of their rounds today. 

"It is therefore likely that some scheduled waste collections will not be completed. 

"If you have been missed today, the council will be prioritising the re-collection of residual and Absorbent Hygiene Products (AHP) waste. Once the weather clears and the roads are deemed safe, we will be working as hard as possible to collect these missed collections.

 

"However, if there are further issues tomorrow with bad weather, further communication will be given on this issue in due course. As the recycling is a weekly collection service we will not be returning to collect any missed recycling containers this week and therefore these properties will be collected on your next scheduled collection day. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

 

"Please note we will take additional recycling material next week from any households we weren’t able to collect from today. If you need to present additional recycling then this material needs to kept separated.

 

"If you live in any of the areas mentioned - including Llangollen - and we missed your waste/recycling collection, please do not report this via our website or our Customer Services Team as we will already be aware of this missed collection."