VALLEY GRITTING REVIEW (Kirklees Liberal Democrats)

Kirklees Liberal Democrats <info@kirkleeslibdems.org.uk>

VALLEY GRITTING REVIEW

December 17, 2008 10:00 PM

Following an extraordinary number of calls for gritting to Kirklees during the recent cold spell, Colne Valley Councillors called for urgent discussions with Highways officers.

"In all my years of service to the Colne Valley community, I cannot recall so many calls in such a short space of time", commented Cllr David Ridgway. "Obviously the new systems being implemented by Highways are taking some time to bed in."

Councillors met with senior Highways officers on Monday afternoon and had a frank exchange of views.

"We are all disappointed that Schofield's chose not to renew their contract with Kirklees. They have served the valley so well for the past 30 years and local residents have come to rely on their swift reaction to bad weather conditions", said Cllr David Ridgway.

"We have been advised that the gritting is now undertaken completely by Kirklees staff based on the depot in Honley. Because of the time taken to travel from Honley to the Colne Valley, Highways have agreed that re-filling will be done in Slaithwaite."

Kirklees Highways are also working with a new additive to the grit, which helps it stick better to the icy road surface. To work to maximum efficiency, it then needs to have vehicles drive over it, which causes the snow or ice to melt. Rain, however, still washes the grit away, leaving the road surface vulnerable to ice or subsequent falls of snow. "This is what happened when it snowed at the beginning of December. The gritters had been all over the valley on the Tuesday morning from about 5.30. It then rained, washed away the grit and then the roads froze and at about 6.30/7.00 it started to snow. The result was chaos!" explained David Ridgway.

In addition to the road gritting, the councillors have expressed deep concerns at how late the grit bins were filled this year. It was explained that in recent years autumn had been much warmer and for longer. It was planned to fill the bins in December. "They have been caught out this year", said Nicola Turner. "I know they get considerable support from the Met Office, but this cold spell had been flagged up for quite some time. I'm surprised that they work to such close deadlines based on weather forecasts!" she added

A full review of the grit bins will now follow. "There is no doubt that some residents are really dependent on these bins. However, we have now been advised the exact priority gritting routes and we feel that because of the level of support these roads will receive, the grit bins should be deployed in places of specific need." Cllr Turner explained that there are 120 bins distributed around the ward. Some have been put into place with the financial support of the Area Committee; local community groups have sponsored others. "Each new bin costs £1300 and is then filled for 5 years by Highways."

"Many people are going to be disappointed that a new bin cannot simply be put into a new location. Each request will be carefully considered and all the sites of the current bins will be reassessed to ensure that their distribution is done to offer the public the best level of support."