Do you live in a gritting not-spot?
By irgmcdonald | Tuesday, November 30, 2010, 10:37
As winter sets in and the roads get icy, travelling gets more and more difficult. You’d expect the major roads around Falmouth to be gritted, but are you in a gritter no-go zone?
If you live in the Boslowick, Mongleath, Swanvale and the Beacon area then you won’t be seeing a gritting lorry much this year. Many of the villages on the outskirts of Falmouth will also not be gritted.
The council say they spend around £1 million a year on making the roads safe during winter and that they “aim to help road users travel safely during adverse weather in the winter months achieve this by salting the busiest roads when freezing conditions are forecast.”
With people stuck at home the local economy suffers. A local woman told me: “I think it’s unacceptable. People need to go to work and in a place like Cornwall, where people live in small villages, they just can’t because the roads are so treacherous.”
If you want to check which roads will be salted this year then you can click here to look at Cornwall Council’s interactive map.
What do you think? Is it up to the council or the community to grit rural roads in freezing weather. Let us know in the comments?
(Photo courtesy of Barry)
Comments
That's a great picture. The gritting situation is meant to be getting even more dire over the next couple of years, as funding for salt purchase/storage is cut. Will mostly be left to Parish councils from then on
By twolitresaday at 21:51 on 02/12/10
ReportRoad clearance should be the responsibility of Cornwall Council. Small local communities do not have the resources to provide road clearance and we already pay substantial amounts in council tax for local services. There may be a case for sub-contracting local farmers or plant hire contractors in emergency situations but proper forward planning should make this unnecessary now that weather forecasting seems to be more accurate.
By CussinJock at 06:34 on 01/12/10
Report@CussinJock I completely agree. For the last three years the snow has been forecast and for the last three years, Cornwall has fallen into turmoil. However the council have somewhat limited resources. But what should be done? Should the community grit their roads?
By irgmcdonald at 19:57 on 30/11/10
ReportIt's all very well gritting major roads but not a lot of help if you can't reach them in the first place. It rally is time for some proper thought to be given to winter conditions in this county. Year upon year we seem to be caught out by snow and ice although it's not an uncommon occurence, after all, the clue is in the season - winter.
By CussinJock at 17:19 on 30/11/10
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