Industrial Action on 30 November – impact on Council Services

The Highland Council will endeavour to maintain as many services as possible during the day of action planned by trade unions on Wednesday 30 November.

Most administrative offices will be open for business and importantly the Council’s Service Centre, which handles all telephony contact, will be open.

The number is 01349 886606.

The main disruption will be in Highland schools. Parents are advised that all Highland school establishments will close to pupils on Wednesday. Schools will be open again from Thursday 1 December.

The strike will affect all pupils attending nursery, primary, secondary and special schools.

Most schools will remain open for school staff not taking strike action. However, some will be closed and teachers and school staff not taking strike action should be aware of the following closures (pdf). They should report to the nearest school that is open.

Corran Ferry, which operates between Nether Lochaber and Ardgour, will not run on Wednesday 30 November. Normal service will resume from 6:30am on Thursday.

Inverness Crematorium will be closed and there will be no burials across the Highlands.

Refuse collections will also be hit in some areas of the Highlands.  It is anticipated that there will be no refuse collections in Inverness Lochaber and Nairn and strike action is also likely to result in closure of the recycling centres in these areas.

Limited disruption is expected in Ross and Cromarty, Skye and Lochalsh and Sutherland.  No disruption is expected in Caithness and Badenoch and Strathspey.

The public and business customers are advised to put out their bins as normal and leave them out.  Every effort will be made to catch-up with collections over Thursday and Friday, however if your bin has not been collected by Friday afternoon you should revert to the next scheduled collection day. Garden waste collections are likely to be disrupted and any missed collections will be uplifted on the next scheduled collection day.

Recycling Centres will be open as normal from Thursday and the public is encouraged to use these facilities to dispose of any excess waste until collections return to normal.

In the event of adverse weather conditions on Wednesday, winter maintenance services will be maintained.

Essential social work services including care at home and residential care services provided by the Council will not be affected by the strike action.

Some day care services, however, will not be able to operate and these are: -

Corbett Centre Inverness – adults with learning disability; Glen Centre Aviemore – older people; McLean Court Nairn – older people; Acharacle – older people; Tigh na Drochaid, Portree  – older people and adults with learning disability.

Also closed will be day care and respite care services at Thor House, Thurso; and  day care services at Beachview, Brora and the Isobel Rhind Centre, Invergordon.

Remaining open on Wednesday will be Caberfeidh, Kingussie – adults with learning disability;  the Mackenzie Centre, Inverness – older people; the Montrose Centre, Fort William - adults with learning disability; and Airdferry, Dornie – older people; respite care at Beachview, Brora, and the Kyle Day Centre, Tongue.

Any concerns about a child or adult’s welfare should be reported as normal to the local Social Work Office, but if this is not possible, the emergency service is available at: 0845 769 7284.

The strike will also result in the closure of 19 Service Points, public offices where the public can access advice and information on Council services.

Those which will close are:

Caithness:  Wick
Sutherland: Bettyhill, Dornoch, Lairg
Ross: Bonar Bridge, Invergordon, Tain, Ullapool
Skye and Lochalsh: Broadford, Kyle, Portree
Lochaber: Fort William
Inverness:  Ardersier, Fort Augustus, Inverness (Church Street).
Nairn:  Nairn
Badenoch and Strathspey: Aviemore, Grantown, Kingussie.

The public  should contact the Service Centre if they require assistance normally provided at a Service Point.

Two public meetings planned for Wednesday have been re-arranged.

The Audit and Scrutiny Committee will meet at 2 pm on Tuesday 29 November and the Resources Committee will meet at 2 pm on Thursday 1 December.