Our colleague Cllr Chris Lumley was warning nearly a year ago that we needed more salt bins.
As the Yellow Advertiser reported last January
Mr Lumley said: ?For many years I have taken many calls from fearful pensioners who simply do not go out because it is too dangerous.
?Rayleigh is a huge town with many pensioners living here.
?I would not want it on my conscience if one of my elderly citizens was to injury themselves because of the ice and lack of bins.?
A councillor with fore-sight – now there’s a thing! Well done, Chris.
This simple approach would have saved a lot of problems over the weekend. I did see one person, a private individual as far as I could tell, going along Rayleigh High Street on Saturday afternoon, with a pot of household table salt, trying to create a narrow, passable track in the ice. He made a valiant, useful effort, and may have saved a few spills, but the task was simply beyond the pot size!
Sometimes the old un’s are still the best!
I cannot believe the lack of planning for the snowfall, we was all aware this was coming, in the space of 3 hours up Rayleigh high street on Saturday I must of seen at least 6 people fall over.
At the very least, the crossings should have been salted but nothing!
One poor person fell over by Barclays Bank and badly hurt themselves, they was left there lying on the ice for around 40 minutes before they received any medical attention, I do not blame the Ambulance Services for this but the council.
The pressure put on the Police and Ambulance service that day was bad how much has that cost? If you compared this having some salt bins ready for the bad weather.
If the council had listened to Chris in the first place, the Police and Ambulance staff would not have been needed.
The council as far as I am concerned have put the safety of the local people of Rayleigh behind the need for planning and application of providing salt bins for use when these types of problems occur.
The Police and Ambulance staff should be commended for helping that person outside Barclays, I hope the person is now OK.