The Scottish Government has published a “four phase” route map for easing lockdown restrictions in response to COVID-19.

Commenting on the easing of the lockdown which come into effect today, local councillor Steve Delaney said, “The Scottish Government has announced a four phase process towards getting society back to normal, accepting of course that it will be a “new normal”, with some restrictions remaining in place for a considerable period of time”.

“Covid-19 has not gone away and it continues to present a real and present danger, especially to elderly residents and those with underlying health conditions. Please continue to follow appropriate guidance issued by the Scottish Government and Aberdeen City Council in order to keep yourself and others safe”.

Council Services

Aberdeen City council has announced a number of changes to bring back services which were suspended during the lockdown. Some services are moving towards full implementation and others will operate on a reduced or restricted basis. The main changes are covered below.

Grass Cutting

This resumes on 1st June. Initially efforts will be focused on parks and other recreational areas, grass verges, cemeteries and Sheltered Housing.

Unfortunately, as well as being behind schedule, it will take longer cut the grass due to the time it has been left. With the grass being longer the squads will be strimming and removing grass cuttings from footways on the first cut where possible, which also takes time.

The squads will do the best they can but it is likely most areas of open space may be cut less frequently than usual and some may not get cut this year.

Waste Collection & Recycling Collections

The current fortnightly collections of general waste and four weekly collections of garden waste/food waste and mixed recycling remain unchanged. It is not yet possible for these to return to their normal frequency.

Household Waste & Recycling Centres

The facilities at Hazlehead, Tullos and Bucksburn will re-open on 1st June but they will have a number of restrictions in place. Only cars will be permitted, proof of address will be required, staff will be unable to assist residents, only one person per vehicle will be admitted (unless the driver has a Blue Badge), not all items will be accepted for recycling and there may be long queues. Opening hours will be 10.00 – 19.45 Mon-Fri and 9.00 – 19.45 at weekends. Full information can be found here.

Education

Schools will re-open on 11 August, a week earlier than usual following the summer break. Attendance will be part time with some school work still being delivered remotely through Google Classroom. There remains more questions than answers about how everything will work. Further updates will be given nearer once matters become clearer.

Road Maintenance

Routine road maintenance will re-commence on 1 June. Up until then only emergency repairs were being done. There is still no word on when the council’s programme of resurfacing roads and footways will commence.

Council Buildings

All council buildings will remain closed. The intention is to open these in later phases of the lockdown easing. Further announcements will be made in due course.

Housing

You can contact your local housing office on 03000 200 292. Area offices remain closed but the service continues to operate remotely.

If you are homeless or threatened with homelessness, as usual you should contact the Homelessness helpline on 0800 917 6379.

Currently only emergency housing repairs are being undertaken with no date yet available for the resumption of non-emergency repairs. Please call 03000 200 292 for emergency repairs.

Parks & Open Spaces

Large public parks including Duthie Park will re-open today. Children’s play parks will remain closed meantime. Residents are reminded to observe social distancing rules at all times.

Public Toilets

Public toilets will remain closed, including those in public parks. They will re-open as soon as Government advice says that it is safe to do so.

City Centre

Necessary works are to be undertaken in the city centre to limit vehicular access in order to provide the space needed for people to move around safety and to allow for shops to re-open. A separate article on this is available here.

More Information

Further information relating to the changes involved phase 1 of the easing of the lockdown restrictions can be found here.