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More bad weather.. and no local grit !!


Dizzy

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I was informed today by a council employee, that councli workers had been round Woolston and Lymm collecting the bags. Anyone seen this.?

 

Whilst I see what the council were trying to achieve, I do question the wisdom of putting a wagon on the King's club carpark on St. Mary Street (Latchford) and expect people to walk there with the bags.

The whole estate is snowbound. At least 2 inches of snow and ice on the footpaths and the roads still very bad.

This is an area where there are a lot of elderly. IF it was going to work some gritting of the paths should have been done. :roll:

It seems that the only paths gritted were the one on Halla Way to enable the Environmental workers to get into Latchford to buy their butties, and the one on Loushers Lane from the shops to Priestley to allow the students to get from where they park their cars. :shock::roll:

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There was a prog on TV tonight, examining the projected costs of ensuring that our transport infrastructure isn't snowbound again - ?1.5billion, followed by ?1/2billion per annum. This was based on the kind of kit required and used in Countries like Finland. However, as this recent weather has been described as a one in thirty year event, would such investment present value for money and as tax-payers, would you support such expenditure, especially given our dire economic situation? :?

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I watched that. It showed the difference in attitude as well.

The next 5 to 10 years could be harsher winters as the cycle has been previously.

In my opinion, we no longer have people of age and experience where it is needed, as was apparent with the last Foot and Mouth saga.

 

Too many young people making decisions based on knowledge gleaned form a short life rather than being guided by lessons from the past.

 

We need contingency plans in place "in case" it happens again next year.

It didn't help with it happening when everyone went off on their LONG xmas break. They must have got back to work and said. "oo-er, what do we do"?

It shouldn't need to have the expensive equipment lying idle, but having a plan and the basics would go a long way to keeping the country moving.

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This is an area where there are a lot of elderly.

 

You might be interested to know that the neither the driveways to the Town Hall nor the Members' car park in front of it have been gritted or cleared of snow. And indeed the steps down from the main entrance were iced up on Wednesday evening, but given the thaw were OK last night. :wink::D:D:D

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This is an area where there are a lot of elderly.

 

You might be interested to know that the neither the driveways to the Town Hall nor the Members' car park in front of it have been gritted or cleared of snow. And indeed the steps down from the main entrance were iced up on Wednesday evening, but given the thaw were OK last night. :wink::D:D:D

 

That tells us a lot about the organisational skills then Paul.

Health and Safety not working in the workplace???? :shock:

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Hahahaha - I am sorry if I find all this laughable but they have a saying in Minnesota "We have two season in Minnesota - winter and road construction."

 

Having said that your only chance to have this get any better is a fast thaw or more colder weather - I say colder because if it gets down to -20 all the ice will turn to powder and you will be able to drive on it. until then "leave early, go slow and do not use your brakes unless you have to. Be careful out there.

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I was informed today by a council employee, that councli workers had been round Woolston and Lymm collecting the bags. Anyone seen this.?

 

Whilst I see what the council were trying to achieve, I do question the wisdom of putting a wagon on the King's club carpark on St. Mary Street (Latchford) and expect people to walk there with the bags.

The whole estate is snowbound. At least 2 inches of snow and ice on the footpaths and the roads still very bad.

This is an area where there are a lot of elderly.

 

There have been workers in vans taking side waste wherever possible. Not just Lymm and Woolston, but moving (I think) more or less with the collections. The idea is to reduce the bags lying around, but obviously, it's not possible to say how soon a van will get full or what time it'll be round, so it's been left as a "best effort" informal extra. Uncharacteristically sensible and effective Council thinking in my view!!

 

Nobody was "asked" to take their rubbish for collection. The WBC site was absolutely clear that we were "invited" to do so. If you don't want to, or if you can't manage it, there's no pressure on you and your extra bags will be taken next week with your bin. Any elderly person normally getting help putting their bin out could get help with this too.

 

It's not perfect, but it's pretty close! :D

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Cold leaves roads full of holes

By Jamie McIvor

BBC Scotland Local Government Correspondent

 

Councils across Scotland are counting the cost of the damage to roads caused by three weeks of freezing weather.

 

The cold snap has left many areas with a hefty programme of repairs and roadworks.

 

Some local authorities have spent far more on winter maintenance than they had anticipated.

 

Routine work has fallen behind because teams were busy trying to keep the roads open, or the cold weather made scheduled work impossible.

 

The freeze has damaged the roads and one of the biggest problems is potholes.

 

Motoring organisations believe there are likely to be substantially more holes than normal this year.

 

Neil Greig, of the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said: "There's no doubt this is one of the worst periods for potholes and road surface deterioration which we've seen for some time."

 

Potholes start to form because road surfaces eventually crack under the heat of the day and the constant stresses of traffic.

 

 

Snow and rainwater seep into cracks, and during cold snaps the water freezes.

 

Some of the dirt and gravel is pushed out as a result, leaving a hidden hole underneath the surface once the ice melts.

 

Eventually the road surface above collapses - creating potholes.

 

Argyll and Bute Council is responsible for maintaining some 2,300km of roads on the mainland from Helensburgh to Campbeltown and Oban, as well as several islands including Mull and Islay.

 

Stewart Turner, the head of roads at the council, said that this winter was the worst he had experienced in 25 years in the industry.

 

He added: "The thing that we've noticed this year is the amount of frost heave that we've got. That's when pavements rise up and roads themselves rise up because there's so much water in the ground - it's a bit like frozen pipes."

 

Conditions like this, he said, add to the likelihood of potholes.

 

Mr Turner said that the condition of roads across Argyll and Bute is now being checked and potholes are being noted.

 

The authority will then have to prioritise how to deal with them.

 

The most important roads and the most potentially dangerous potholes would come first.

 

Mr Turner's experiences are likely to be replicated across Scotland.

 

There are two main ways of repairing potholes and experts liken them to the temporary and permanent fillings used by dentists.

 

During the winter months, potholes may receive what is known as a "cold winter mix".

 

It is a temporary solution to fill in the hole and make the road surface smoother, but holes repaired in this way are likely to appear again after a few weeks

 

A more permanent fix for potholes is called a "hot summer mix".

 

This combination of roadgrade asphalt and aggregate is designed to last for years, but it can only be applied during dry, warm weather.

 

Pat Watters, president of local government umbrella body Cosla, said: "Central and local government are working to address long-standing underinvestment in our road network and there is no doubt that roads have been affected badly by the freeze.

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I can live with schools being closed for 4 days every 40 years. I can live with being stuck indoors for a week because it's horrible outside. I woulnd't spend billions on buying, maintaining and storing specialised equipment for such a brief usage once in a blue moon.

 

But I would, without hesitation, invest in a longterm reduction of our endless summer roadworks. If adding a bit of copper wiring to the road bed and running a tiny current along it when the gauge hits 1 degree puts a stop to crawling miles of traffic, then I think the investment is well worth it on all fronts - user experience, safety, economy and even reduction of CO2 emissions from traffic jams!

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  • 1 month later...

Ah but give WBC council some credit for learning from their mistakes. They are at least trying to make amends for leaving most of Warrington at a standstill for well over a week last time.

 

According to local Warrington updates today all the local gritters have been out in force since lunch time (although the council have advised that not all roads will be snow ploughed or gritted) but again they are advising motorists and pedestrians of safety with the expected snow and ice.

 

Good on them I say... pitty it's only been raining all night and the met office seem to have got it wrong AGAIN :oops::wink:

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We had a bit in the Highlands of Appleton...but by and large it has cleared. With regards to WBC grit, we've got about 300 tonnes with stocks still being controlled by central government. WBC have to email government on a daily basis and submit twice weekly salt audits. Salt Union must be a great business...where they can dictate supply.

 

The Winter Review - Executive Task Group ( of which I am one of the five Members) will, all being well, be putting an interim report to Full Council on 22 March. It will make interesting reading. Some good stuff is coming out of the work we are doing on behalf of Warrington's residents.

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