Short-term car park closure in Kirkwall

The Waterfront West/Shapinsay slip car park in Kirkwall will be closed off for a short period tomorrow evening, Wednesday, this week as work continues as part of the council’s flood prevention scheme.

The latest stage of the scheme will see testing of floodgates in the vicinity. As a result, the Waterfront West/Shapinsay slip car park will be closed between 8pm and 11pm with no vehicles to be allowed in the area. Pedestrian access will be unaffected.

Construction of Kirkwall’s flood defences began along the central shoreline in February last year and the scheme has seen the construction of a minimum 1.1-metre high flood barrier running all the way from Ayre Mills to St Catherine’s Place roundabout.

The flood defences are designed to help protect low-lying parts of central Kirkwall against storm surge flooding.

The £1.75m project has been 80 per cent funded by the Scottish Government and was required under the Flood Risk Management Act.