True grit approach to snow and ice pays off in North Lincs
North Lincolnshire Council's new "proactive" measures to tackle wintry weather worked pretty well during the recent spell of snow and ice.
That's the view of Councillor Nigel Sherwood, the Cabinet member overseeing the treating of highways and footpaths.
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North Lincolnshire Council snow-clearing a town centre path during the recent spell of bad weather.
Well before the onset of winter, the authority reviewed how it should react during spells of bad weather, following many past grumbles by the public.
The latest spell of snow and ice was the first real test of the new procedures.
Councillor Sherwood said: "Everything has gone according to plan, although a bit of tweaking is called for here and there. There is always room for improvement."
Before winter, the council built up a larger-than-normal road salting stockpile at a depot in Scunthorpe, and Councillor Sherwood revealed a further 500 tonnes have now been delivered as a top-up.
He said the council had also called in contractors to help with snow-plough work in the north of the area, including Winteringham, Whitton and South Ferriby.
New plant, including specially adapted quad bikes, was also deployed.
Councillor Sherwood said there would be a "full debrief" involving himself and officers from highways and neighbourhood services to review the council's efforts.
North Lincolnshire Council has also provided salt bins in various parishes and towns across the area and gave funds so local communities can arrange their own contractors to deal with snow and ice if conditions get particularly bad.
The authority treats many major roads when snow and ice is forecast, plus car parks and major pedestrian routes like Scunthorpe Precinct, Brigg town centre, Frodingham Footpath and Ashby Broadway.
3 Comments
by IT_MAN
Tuesday, February 14 2012, 7:21PM
“Agree with theinquisitor.
Maybe the old way of 2 men with shovels and a truck of grit could visit streets/roads with inclines and bends to help people in rural areas gain access to the cleared streets in town to be able to get out for shopping. We all pay counsil tax so should get some service in these conditions, I always thought keeping the main routes cleared and treated was the duty of the council or at least it used to be.”
by theinquisitor
Tuesday, February 14 2012, 4:47PM
“I understand that a plan will have tiers of snow clearing importance, dealing with main arterial routes first, including bus routes. The council fails to recognize that smaller side roads that have hills or even slight inclines are an issue and must ensure they identify them and get them ploughed/gritted at an early opportunity, especially when they know a period of freezing weather will follow a snow fall.
My parents were snowed in for several days after the recent snow fall and the road (Winchester Drive) has still not been gritted!”
by JohnJohn2011
Tuesday, February 14 2012, 10:53AM
“Like I said previously the authority has done a better job this year so far; however they are only doing what should normally be expected of them or any council for that matter. It seems to me that because the public in general has by and largely praised them this year that they are now going to town on a major back slapping exercise. Let's not forget that with the exception of the last two weeks of cold weather the winter as a whole has been a mild winter. Also I think at most we had approximately only 150mm of lying snow at any one time as we had a five day gap between snow falls with a little thawing in-between. I suspect things would be worse if we had a situation like we had in November 2010 when we had heavy snow falls over days close together coupled with freezing temperatures day and night for days on end over a whole month. A properly organized snow clearing service is what we should expect every winter, and that's all we can expect. I did notice when I parked my car near church square near to the visual arts centre on Saturday, I was aware of a nice clear path way from the temporary car park on the old leisure centre site direct to the council offices near he market. Also the path way outside the office was totally clear, how the council staff is able to get their path way cleared to work while all other residents have to negotiate all the cr*p is beyond me. It should be that all retailers and shop keepers, businesses and house holders are expected to clear the path way yard to their premises and leave the authority to look after the old and disabled who are sadly not catered for much.”