Gritting continued
As flagged up during today no buses were able to run on the estate due to the state of the ring road, and with problems elsewhere there was only the 394 running with no service on the 239 or 341.
In fact the only gritting that was done on the estate today was limited to bits around the shops done by the caretakers and estate co-ordinator at High Peak Community Housing (who don’t have the setup to do much more).
Later today local borough councillor’s received details from the council advising officers had approached the county council with an offer of assistance and that the county have now agreed for the borough to grit certain town and village centre pavements for them until the current extreme weather improves. The decision took effect today and covers pavements that have been prioritised by the County Council in Buxton, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Glossop, New Mills, Whaley Bridge, Castleton, Chinley, Hadfield and Hayfield.
However unfortunately this new arrangement doesn’t mention pavements in Gamesley, Simmondley, Charlesworth and Tintwistle, amongst other places, and I’ve requested and await a reply on what assistance / gritting will be done locally.
The details sent to us don’t clarify further why the original arrangement ended only stating that the county council decided to take “this function back in house” – essentially continuing the ‘nowt to do with us’ theme that the borough has been following with regards to gritting issues.
In terms of waste collection we are advised that “despite the bad weather, we are carrying out as many waste collections as possible, although some missed collections are inevitable while snow and ice continue to cover many side roads. A media release published today advises householders of what to do until the weather improves”
Elsewhere the facebook (High Peak Council Are A Joke) group I mentioned earlier that is highlighting local concerns over gritting seems to be growing in size and has now stemmed a blog called Glossop Snow Joke (http://glossopsnowjoke.blogspot.com/) again critical of the council for their lack of action over the gritting.
Added to which it appears the snow has started again tonight and the following press release / comment that I have been advised has been issued from the Derbyshire County Council makes concerning reading :
A spokesman for Derbyshire County Council said: “We’re dealing with the worst winter weather for 30 years.
“We’re continuing to grit main routes across Derbyshire but extremely low temperatures mean salt and grit doesn’t work as effectively as usual.
“We’ve used 15,000 tonnes of salt so far this winter. We haven’t reduced the amount of grit and salt we’ve been spreading on the roads and we’re continuing to grit main routes as normal.
“After treating main routes we would usually start gritting side roads. But recent conditions have been so bad that we’ve needed to return to the main routes which means side roads are not currently being treated.
“Our salt supplier hasn’t been able to deliver the required amounts and we’re monitoring the situation closely. We’re doing all we can to get more supplies from elsewhere.
“We’ll start to fill up grit bins again — which are provided for use in public areas only – as soon as we can when supplies allow.”
07/01/2010 @ 7:27 am
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