Local councillors give feedback on Council gritting
January 30, 2010 Iain Roberts 5 Comments

Kevin Melling, from Stockport Council, and Cllr Dave White have been visiting every Local Area Committee meeting to get feedback from councillors on how Stockport can improve its response to freezing weather conditions as we saw for nearly a month from around 18th December.

The Tories have been attacking the Council for not gritting more pavements.  Odd when you consider that Stockport did better than most and that you can’t just scatter grit on pavements like you can on roads.  It’s the action of cars grinding the grit into the ice on busy roads that actually does the job.

That doesn’t happen on pavements – you need to clear the snow and ice first and – as many of us found over the cold period – that can be a very slow and laborious process.

But I guess making that sort of attack is easier than understanding the issues and coming up with serious suggestions.

I had two comments:

  1. If we can get more business owners to clear in front of their premises, the people clearing pavements could focus on those used by elderly people: paths from sheltered accommodation and old peoples’ homes, and to medical centres and doctors’surgeries for example.  We need to counter the misinformation being spread in the media about the risk of being sued.
  2. Where residential roads have steep slopes (e.g. Kendal Drive, Eskdale, Rydal Close, Airedale Close), they should be given higher priority on the gritting list.

Overall, and having seen and heard from many other areas around the country, I believe Stockport did better than most at keeping the roads clear, resuming refuse and recycling services as quickly as possible and getting help to the most vulnerable.

Many Council staff went above and beyond the call of duty in working to keep everything moving.

But, of course, that doesn’t mean no improvements can be made and I was very pleased to see Cllr White and Kevin Melling taking the initiative to go out and ask for feedback.

council, meetings, streets

5 Comments

1
Alan Sim
Tuesday 2 February 2010 - 5:49 pm

Iain, I think Kevin Melling has been telling porkies just to cover his back. Road grit is made up predominantly of salt. Any amount of road salt spread on the pavements would have the desired effect of making them less hazardous for pedestrians.
At a time when we are using the car less due to the conditions, the maintenance of the pavements is paramount. Its also quite easy for the gritters to be adjusted to spread wider to reach footpaths.
Even on the heavy used footpaths there was no spreading whatsoever. I regularly use Gatley Road near to Gatley Station and the pavements there were treacherous during the cold spell. Furthermore, we cannot rely on businesses where there are none. And why do the Council not maintain grit bins any more? I used to use them to spread myself, but they are not provided any more.
I think if you canvassed the public, most would say the condition of the footpaths was poor and this is a reflection of the council’s policy.
Roads – OK, footpaths – please try harder.

2
iainroberts
Wednesday 3 February 2010 - 11:33 am

Alan,

I actually disagree with you over pavements. Just spreading a bit of salt on an icy pavement can easily melt just the top of the ice, which soon re-freezes to be even more slippery.

(I tried both outside my own house – spreading salt didn’t work, clearing the ice and then spreading salt did).

You’re quite right that the gritters can be adjusted to grit pavements but, in the conditions we had in January, it simply would’t have done the job.

One suggestion I (and others) have made is that we work to persuade more shopkeepers to clear in front of their premises, which would then free up Council workers to clear key routes like the pavements to surgeries, medical centres, stations and schools.

3
Alan Sim
Wednesday 3 February 2010 - 11:56 am

OK so the pavement may re-freeze, but any little could help. Doing nothing is not acceptable.
I do think the recent weather was unprecented, but the council workers were still absent and very little was done by way of clearing pavements at all, if anything.
Maybe your suggestion should include that they bring back the grit bins and locate them outside surgeries, medical centres, stations and schools. then locals can help to make their own patch safer and more passable for those that need it. How can local businesses clear their footpaths, as you suggest, without the necessary tools? A cleared path is just as dangerous without any grit.

4
heather stuart
Friday 5 February 2010 - 7:29 pm

This is what i have been saying since the weather started. The council removed the grit bin from the bottom of Eskdale in the summer . I have rang the council several times and asked for it to be replaced but they have not done it. Eskdale is a steep hill and cars had to be left at the bottom as they could not be driven up also deliveries couldn’t be made. We are not asking the council to grit eskdale just put the bloody bin back so we can do it ourselves.

5
iainroberts
Friday 5 February 2010 - 8:53 pm

Hi Heather, I do agree with you. I haven’t got the bottom of grit bin placements yet – I can only assume that it was decided somewhere else had more need than Eskdale.

As time went on there was a problem with grit bins too – they were emptied as soon as they were filled, often by people pinching lots of grit for their own driveways instead of using it to grit the road and pavement.

For a road like Eskdale, which is right next to a priority gritting route anyway, it might actually be easier for the Council and better for you to have the gritter go down it.



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