Some schools have announced they will close this Monday following the snow over the weekend and overnight ice.

These include: Shaftesbury school, Shaftesbury primary school, St Mary the Virgin primary school in Gillingham, Motcombe Primary School, The Abbey CE VA Primary School, Shaftesbury and St Andrews CE VA Primary School, Fontmell Magna, and St Gregorys, Marnhull.

For the latest news on which schools are closed on Monday visit here.

After heavy snow fell in the early hours of Sunday and ice overnight into Monday  Dorset County Council’s Travel Dorset services tweeted on Monday morning: ‘This is a severe weather alert for ice. Treated routes could be slippery and those not gritted could be treacherous. If you choose to travel this morning, please take extreme care. If your journey is not essential please postponed it for a few hours.’

Though conditions are not as bad as they were during the arrival of the so-called Beast from the East earlier this month, the Met Office still had an amber alert for North Dorset early on Sunday because of snow and a yellow alert for Monday morning because of ice. The amber alert for snow was later downgraded to yellow.

A number of local events were hit by the snowfall, including the Gillingham Scouts’ Swimathon at RiversMeet leisure centre which was was cancelled.

The household recycling centre (HRC) at Shaftebury was also closed on Sunday because of the weather.
As of 8.15am all North Dorset rubbish and recycling collections are currently suspended, with the exception of some rounds in Blandford and some in Gillingham. For latest details visit here.