East Lancashire snow: Storm over gritting (From Lancashire Telegraph)

East Lancashire snow: Storm over gritting

10:04am Tuesday 22nd December 2009 in News By David Watkinson, Deputy news editor

SNOW JOKE: Coun David Whipp with empty grit bin

A 'LACK of grit' in residential areas has left roads and pavements 'horrendous' - but the on-street bins won't be re-filled for up to a week.

Only a third of highways are being treated, leaving side roads and cul-de-sacs in a 'horrific' state with more wintery conditions expected in the run-up to Christmas.

Yesterday thousands of bin collections were cancelled for a week because lorries could not access the streets, and taxi drivers said they had been unable to respond to callouts.

Medics reported a busy day in the Accident and Emergency department and the number of shunts reported doubled as drivers battled into work.

One council is considering introducing lockable grit bins because residents are taking the salt to use on their own driveways.

Lancashire County Council only has around two days' worth of rock salt still remaining in its Burnley depot, but highways manager Duncan Reeve insisted more was on its way.

Yesterday he said: "We have been out all day, and there is more severe weather forecast.

"We have to keep on treating the roads."

Mr Reeve said grit bins were being refilled on a rotation basis but added: "As fast as we are filling them they are getting emptied."

He said it would take around a week for a grit bin to be refilled on the current rota.

Bosses were left cursing yesterday morning's snow downpour, which ruined much of the overnight gritting work by covering the salt before cars could grind it into the road surface.

Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen councils, which together are responsible for all the area's roads, say they grit around 35 per cent of the network, focusing on key A roads and bus routes.

Lancashire has 22 gritting lorries in use in East Lancashire - by far the worst-hit part of the county - and Blackburn with Darwen's four trucks, equipped with snowploughs, are all in use.

According to the AA, the Audit Commission recommends an average of 38 per cent of the road network should be covered.

But the absence of gritting on minor roads and the lack of grit in bins of street coroner has badly hit estates across East Lancashire.

Disabled Albert Monaghan, 61, said his home off New Wellington Street, Mill Hill, Blackburn, had become cut off because no gritting had taken place and grit bins were empty.

Mr Monaghan, who lives in an old people's development, said: "I haven't been outside for days.

"I use a disability scooter and I have no chance out in the snow.

"I can't believe there's no grit and so many roads have just been ignored."

Makbul Patel, vice chairman of Blackburn's Hackney Carriage Association, said: "The council has only been gritting the main roads.

"We have been doing our best, but the roads have been horrendous."

The lack of taxis hit trade at FJ Nichols pub, Northgate, Blackburn, where only 100 of an expected 500 people turned up to a Christmas event.

General manager Chris Wooddissee said: "I don't blame the taxi drivers.

"It was almost impossible to drive in Blackburn. The roads were horrific.

"There didn't seem to be any gritting taking place."

Coun Alan Cottam, the regeneration boss at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said he 'deplored' people taking the grit for their private driveways and said bins that could be locked - with a key given to a resident to manage - were being considered.

And environment director Peter Hunt added: "We have about 400 grit bins, and I am sure every single one is empty now.

"We are filling them up, but not a great deal of it goes on the highways."

Coun Malcolm Pritchard, who sits on Hyndburn Council and Lancashire County Council, said: "The bus routes seem clear but everything else is a real problem.

"I didn't even bother to go outside on Sunday because there just wasn't any point.

"There was very little grit and all of the side roads were dangerous."

Residents in Pendle, where four inches of snow fell in half an hour, said they felt they have been given the 'cold shoulder' by gritters, leaving their streets and pavements dangerous.

One campaigner called for the county council's gritting boss to resign over the latest 'shambles' in the county saying that secondary streets had been left treacherous because grit bins were empty.

Coun David Whipp said: "The gritting service is a shambles.

"The grit bins have laid empty for days and nothing has been done about it.

"No lessons have been learned from problems last year."

Town councillor Jenny Purcell said when her husband Harry, 72, fell ill yesterday with a suspected aneurysm and ambulance crews struggled to reach them at their home in Gisburn Road, Barnoldswick, due to untreated roads.

She said: "We have had no grit for a week and that is unacceptable.

"I blame the county council because the situation has been handled very badly.

"The roads have been atrocious. We were very lucky that the ambulance crews did a fantastic job to get to us and get Harry to hospital in very difficult circumstances."

He is now awaiting diagnosis at Airedale Hospital.

Burnley Council leader Gordon Birtwistle said he had made several calls to County Hall highways officers over the weekend about the state of the borough's snow-covered sidestreets and pavements.

He said: "The main roads in Burnley and Padiham have been gritted and I have got no issue with them, but the sideroads and pavements are treacherous.

"As well as that, the grit bins are all empty and it seems as if drivers have been helping themselves to the grit inside.

"My concern is for elderly residents."

In Rossendale Coun Dorothy Farrington said that many grit bins have been empty for more than a week.

She said: "I have been calling the county council since Thursday and I have still not seen any.

"The whole issue has been handled very badly and it feels like Rossendale really copped it this time.

"We have not been getting what we are supposed to be getting to keep ourselves safe."

About 8,000 households in Blackburn and Darwen will have to wait another week for their rubbish to be collected, with a similar amount expected to be affected today, after refuse lorries were forced to return to the depot.