Tar plant at council quarry breaks down

Roadworks in Orkney will be delayed after a breakdown of the tar plant at the council-owned Cursiter Quarry.

Orkney Islands Council (OIC) has confirmed that there will be delays to roadworks in Finstown and on Glaitness Road in Kirkwall but “alternative options” are being explored to enable the works to restart.

It is not yet clear how long the asphalt plant will be out of action, but OIC expects it to be up and running “in short order”.

Cursiter Quarry is the sole producer of coated surfacing materials in Orkney, and the asphalt plant was replaced in 2016.

An OIC spokesman confirmed to The Orcadian that the tar plant was “unavailable due to a technical issue”.

“Specialist engineers are currently on site working to resolve the problem, and the plant is expected to be back up and running in short order,” the spokesman said on Friday.

“Whilst the plant is out of operation, the opportunity is also being taken to carry out upgrades that will help improve its longevity.

“We will provide a further update once the issue has been resolved.”

The full cost of the repair work will only become clear once an assessment is carried out including the scope of the upgrade work.

The spokesman added: “The plant being out of action will cause delays to the A965 works in Finstown and the works on Glaitness Road, but we’re looking at alternative options so that some of the works can resume sooner.”