Council services suspended following red weather warning

Extremely high winds forecast for today (Friday 18 February) and the escalation to a red warning – the highest level of warning for wind meaning ‘danger to life’ – issued by the Met Office, have led to the council’s Household Waste and Recycling service, Garden Waste service and Clinical Waste services being suspended from 9am.

As a result we are asking residents who have not received a collection to take their bins back into a sheltered place and then present them again tomorrow for collection by 6am.

A number of other services are affected as a result of the warning:

• Our Street Cleansing teams have also returned from their rounds this morning due to the weather conditions.  The Street Cleansing service will resume tomorrow and the team will be on hand to pick up wind blown waste and recycling.
• All public toilets will be closing this morning by 10am and will not reopen until tomorrow morning.
• All Open Spaces staff will cease their duties by 10am today.
• The areas that normally receive a household waste collection on a Friday include Ramsgate, Pegwell, Minster and Monkton. Garden Waste collections normally take place in Margate today and this service will also be suspended.
• Collections commenced at 6am this morning and approximately 60% of properties will have received a collection today.
• Collections from properties missed today have been rescheduled to take place tomorrow morning (Saturday 19 February).
• Clinical Waste customers will be contacted individually by the Operations Admin team or Customer Services team with more information and guidance.
• Services provided at Thanet’s Gateway Plus will also be suspended.
• The Visitor Information Centre in Margate will remain closed and will not reopen until tomorrow morning.

This decision has not been taken lightly but is necessary for the safety of our crews. 

Thank you for your understanding.