AN offer of a “do it yourself” winter gritting kit has only been accepted by four out of 18 parish councils in Warrington.
But the borough council is hoping other councils reconsider the offer, made to all parish councils, of free equipment to cope with winter conditions.
The borough offered additional resources – grit, grit bins, snow shovels and hand spreaders – to allow parish councils to prioritise extra areas in their own communities.
Many, including Stockton Heath, Appleton and Culcheth, felt they did not have the manpower to carry out the work. But four – Penketh, Cuerdley, Walton and Hatton – signed up to the scheme.
The borough’s own resources, as in previous years, will be fully committed to gritting its highway network and ensuring it remains safe and accessible.
Cllr Linda Dirir, executive member for Highways, Transportation, Engineering and Operations, said: “We’re reaching out to parish councils to give them extra grit supplies to help communities tackle the severe weather.
“Our team has to prioritise the routes it grits and this self-help scheme will mean communities can help themselves to extra salt. For example, you could grit your own and your elderly neighbours’ driveway, which aren’t part of the borough teams remit.”
Following the severe weather conditions last winter the council plans to be prepared this year by making sure the town is well stocked with grit and salt.
Cllr Dirir visited the Holmesfield Road Depot to see how preparations for winter are going.
She said from October last year to April this year, the team carried out 59 gritting runs using a total of 2,400 tonnes of salt, gritting the borough roads. The depot has 2,300 tonnes of grit waiting to be dispatched at the first sign of frost.
Cllr Dirir said: “Following the severe weather conditions of the past two years, we’re making sure Warrington is ready for the worst and our depot is well stocked up with grit.
“If and when freezing weather hits, make sure you check the winter gritting pages on the council website for updates and advice.”
Pictured: Cllr Dirir at the winter gritting depot.
4 Comments
At least 4 took up the offer and one of those is mine ie Walton 🙂 Well done !! So what’s the plan of action then? Do we just offer to help the PC and collect the grit from the parish councils own store or will they supply us with bags of grit for us to spread on identified danger spots on roads/pavements etc near to our own homes that that the council gritters dont do ? For residents in other areas who WOULD be willing to do do theirs can they get grit from the council if their Parish council has refused ? I noticed the picture has a grit bin with Parish Council on though and it looks a bit small. Do they only get one each or do they get a few and put them in spots around the Parish? Should the grit be used by people to clear their own drives though like Cllr Dirir states? Surely it should be for pavements and areas of roads which are dangerous. If 14 Parsh Council have opted out though I guess the 4 who have signed up could have their bins and grit supplies too…… I’ll get my spiked shoes, trolley and spade ready 🙂
I didn’t quite understand that, I thought the idea of local gritting boxes is that they were placed at key places like bad bends so that local people could come to the aid of the community. Reading that though, the council’s idea of self help seems a long way from my interpretation and sounds more like a help yourself to the free grit facility for your own drive.
The offer from WBC was for a certain amount of grit and equipment free, everything above this was to be charged. As a Parish Councillor in Great Sankey, we knew this would not go far and would impact on our limited budget. Taking the last two winters into account, it would have been a large cost. Further to this was how we got the grit out and to where along with the clearance equipment, not to mention who was going to do it. The story doesn’t give the whole picture.
Sounds like a stinking political decision to me – try investing in some manpower or working with volunteers and the public could have benefited, no?