We got the update below around 16.15 today. Clearly there are major problems across the region, and we can only hope that all council and emergency teams are able to operate sufficiently to protect lives. More locally, bin collections are now cancelled for this week, any missed bins will be collected in two weeks.

Latest update from council:

With the forecasts not showing any significant signs of improvement and due to the number of properties affected, we will be unable to carry out catch up collections for those properties we have missed this week. Residents are therefore being advised to take their missed bin back in and it will be emptied in a fortnights time by our crews – who will also take any additional materials which have accumulated in that time. We anticipate resuming collections on Monday so are asking residents to put their bins out in line with the alternate weekly service. If anyone is unsure they can check on “My Durham”.

As a result of last night’s heavy snow showers countywide, and drifting snow from the strong winds the number of road closures have increased. The list below is the latest information available.

A689 Closed at Cowshill
B6295 Closed at Cowshill
C21 Closed at Rookhope
B6278 Closed at Crawleyside Stanhope and at Edmundbyers
C16 Closed at Crawleyside Stanhope and at Horseleyhope Castleside
B6278 Closed at Stanhope and Egglestone
B6277 Closed at Middleton
B6276 Closed at Middleton
C27 Closed at St John’s Chapel & Landon Beck
C28 Closed at Westgate & Newbiggin
C77 Closed Rookhope & Ireshopeburn
C78 Closed Rookhope & Westgate
C18A Closed at Crook & Stanley
C11 Closed between Quaking Houses and Burnhope

The advice to motorists remains only to drive where necessary.

Durham Police have been pro-actively engaging with any homeless persons to offer to arrange safe accommodation via ourselves. We have also been working closely with the homeless charity Changing Lives to provide support for anyone in need. The information I provided yesterday has been widely circulated to all of our partners.

Care Connect, have again cancelled all non-urgent installations and are just dealing with emergencies. Our care staff continue to prioritise essential visits.

Customer Access points are open and are able to see anyone who calls in, similarly the contact centres are running normally.

As we advised yesterday members of the public are advised to phone ahead to ensure that services such as libraries and leisure centres are operating.

Household waste and recycling centres in Middleton-in-Teesdale and Horden are closed with others opening later than normal.

Our business centres have remained open for our tenants so they can continue their work.

The number of school closures is similar to yesterday.

We have been responding to requests from some care homes for the provision of 4 x 4 transport to help staff get into work and our Countryside Rangers have been able to support this request. A similar request has also come in from the University hospital in Durham to check if we could help if needed later today.

We are not aware of any issues with any of the utilities although Northumberland Water have said they may need some help clearing the A689 so they can get to a water treatment plant at Irishopburn to carry out some critical work to maintain the water supply from this plant.

For updates on all council services, please visit awb://www.durham.gov.uk or check the council’s Facebook and Twitter sites at facebook.com/durhamcouncil and twitter.com/DurhamCouncil.