New opening hours as scale of skip closures revealed
There have been 32 weekend closures of Orkney’s amenity sites over the past three years, it has emerged.
The news comes as the local authority has announced that it will be trialling extended opening hours for the Garson and Hatston sites.
It has been a recurring theme over recent months for OIC to announce the closure of civic amenity sites due to skips being full, particularly at the weekend.
The Orcadian submitted a freedom of information request to the authority to find out the scale of the issue, which has caused discontent in the community.
OIC’s response details 11 weekend closures in 2024 and 12 in 2025.
But, by early May this year, there had already been nine occasions when Garson, Hatston or both were shut.
Breakdowns in vehicles were the cause of six of the closures across the three-year period. The lack of a spare skip caused one closure, as did a blown-over street lamp.
On Monday, the council announced it was trialling a new system, expanding the Wednesday opening hours of the two sites. This will last for a 12-week period, starting this week.
Both Hatston and Garson will remain open until 6.45pm on a Wednesday evening, up until August 26.
OIC says it is hoped that the additional hours will alleviate some pressure and is in response to community feedback.
The council says many service users have reported that they wanted to see some added flexibility in opening hours across the week.
During the trial period, usage levels will be monitored and recorded in order to assess demand and inform any future decisions on the service.
The opening hours of the sites will now be as follows:
- Monday: closed
- Tuesday: 8am-3.45pm
- Wednesday: 8am-6.45pm
- Thursday: 8am-3.45pm
- Friday: 8am-3.45pm
- Saturday: 8am-3.45pm
- Sunday: 8am-3.45pm
OIC director for infrastructure and organisational development, Lorna Richardson, said: “Our civic amenity sites at Hatston and Garson are well-used and very much valued by our community.
“As folk try to fit ‘going to the dump’ into their busy lives, we’ve found that there are occasions where we’re reaching capacity at the sites over the weekend, leading to closures. That inevitably leads to frustration from householders.
“We’ve taken that feedback, listened, and made this change for a trial period so that we can assess the true demand.”