Council’s pledge on emergency gritting (From York Press)
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City of York Council’s pledge on emergency gritting
9:51am Wednesday 8th February 2012 in News
COUNCIL chiefs have promised a “contingency fund” will ensure York’s roads are gritted in emergencies despite proposed highways budget cuts.
Plans for the next two years, which will be discussed by City of York Council’s cabinet next week, include a £500,000 reduction in the authority’s highways budget, with a drop in the number of roads routinely gritted and 16 full-time posts axed.
The ruling Labour group said the contingency fund would ensure routes were still gritted in extreme weather. Council leader James Alexander said: “There is currently no contingency available and, in future, I think it is prudent to create that, which is why we have included up to £250,000 in our budget proposals in case it is needed.”
But Coun Ann Reid, deputy leader of the council’s Liberal Democrat group, claimed the contingency fund was a “red herring”.
She said: “They are cutting £10,000 from the gritting budget with no idea where they are taking it from.”
Meanwhile, Coun Alexander has congratulated gritting and snow clearance teams who have been out in force in recent days, saying: “Staff are working flat out to ensure York keeps moving and they deserve a lot of praise.”
• In yesterday’s edition of The Press, we published a picture of Coun Alexander next to a gritting machine which our caption said had been damaged by a snowball.
We are happy to clarify that this vehicle was not damaged and the picture was taken during Coun Alexander’s visit to York’s gritting HQ.
Comments(16)
grahamw
says...
11:11am Wed 8 Feb 12
Remember that those hardy souls on bikes create more space on the road for us motorists and also deserve to be given some thought when conditions are slippery and potentially dangerous.
AM14
says...
12:14pm Wed 8 Feb 12
We should be concerned about what will happen next winter as a few of the guys that do the gritting have been told they face redundancy in the coming months.
Smiler
says...
12:19pm Wed 8 Feb 12
AM14 wrote:Thank you I do stand corrected.
Smiler I must correct you - the gritters were loaded up and ready to go before the snow started. Perhaps you only saw them after the snow had started when they were on the way round their routes maybe for the 2nd run even.
We should be concerned about what will happen next winter as a few of the guys that do the gritting have been told they face redundancy in the coming months.
When i saw this particular gritter it was gritting in Acomb and there was already substantial snow on the main road, it didn't have it's plough down to clear the centre line and was putting grit on top of snow.
Is the tale that it doesn't work on snow right?
I agree with the redundancy comment though.
Gyspsy Power
says...
1:56pm Wed 8 Feb 12
She said: “They are cutting £10,000 from the gritting budget with no idea where they are taking it from.”
Wasn't it during Ann Reids time that the gritting was absolutely non existent and they had no plan whatsoever to deal with it. Also, whatever happened to the tens of thousands of pounds worth of Sat Navs that went missing on your watch Ann? Who padi for that. So I would pipe down if I was you.
Gyspsy Power
says...
1:57pm Wed 8 Feb 12
grahamw
says...
2:16pm Wed 8 Feb 12
Perhaps they should cut back on the banqueting, mayoral pomp, transport, airy fairy arts schemes and other excesses during these times of extreme belt-tightening by us mere peasants.
pittysure
says...
2:22pm Wed 8 Feb 12
grahamw
says...
2:36pm Wed 8 Feb 12
Probably you'd be better off signing on anyway, and only one quick trip a fortnight required.
Tim Cronin
says...
3:48pm Wed 8 Feb 12
Viper_7
says...
5:15pm Wed 8 Feb 12
working class tory
says...
8:37pm Wed 8 Feb 12
Viper_7
says...
9:00pm Wed 8 Feb 12
Fortunately this snow fall fell on a weekend, I suspect if it was a week day we would have seen the infrastructure grind to a halt as per previous years; same for the low accident count, just less people travelling to work.
piaggio
says...
10:15pm Wed 8 Feb 12
YSTClinguist
says...
12:26am Thu 9 Feb 12
piaggio wrote:Asides from joggers that really ought to weigh up fitness runs against risk of injury, this story is all about main roads and car users. I have seen numerous people risking their lives walking in the road because the pavement is a no-go option for them right now, and has been for days.
and to the 2 idiots on tuesday night,runnin/joggin down tadcaster road ??? get on the bloody footpath! roads gritted for cars/buses.bikes.not flippin joggers on a cheap health kick..........idiots
What about these minimum wage workers who can't afford cars and have found the pavements almost unusable? Huntington Road for the third night is practically impassable on the pavements. Word is Foxwood is a nightmare. Even cleaning one side of the road would be a big help to the residents of York, not just workers, but schoolkids and even OAP's/infirm who are quite possibly prisoners in their own homes right now.
Apparently the paths in York centre are clear, but if you look closely today you see they aren't all clear. Cyclists going through York will find they are limited by the one way system to impassable roads off the tourist track.
It's bad enough the streets outside of the centre are so dark recently with dimmed streetlights and removed/broken ones, but when people are putting their lives at risk having to walk in the roads, or having to pay out for completely unsubsidised buses and facing the choice of reducing their food or heating to afford it, winter is becoming a nightmare for certain residents, the very groups that need help right now.
grahamw
says...
6:41pm Fri 10 Feb 12
Sadly the council would appear to be more concerned about spending money on titivating areas of the city centre for the benefit of tourists (who actually come here to experience HISTORY not disneyland), rather than for the safety and convenience of their own council-tax paying residents.
Meanwhile there are literally 1,000s of able-bodied people signing on and being paid to sit at home in the warmth, watching TV.
Smiler says...
10:43am Wed 8 Feb 12
On saturday afternoon there were gritters out wafter it had snowed, i thought that was too late as we had weeks notice that this was happening?
but they had mini gritters out around the side roads yesterday.