It’s trying to snow in Rayleigh today.? The weather forecast for tomorrow is “heavy snow”.
If you live in the Rochford District, and you do get some snow, please feel free to email us your photographs …..
It’s trying to snow in Rayleigh today.? The weather forecast for tomorrow is “heavy snow”.
If you live in the Rochford District, and you do get some snow, please feel free to email us your photographs …..
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Does anyone know that with the notice we have had over this snow fall, why hasn’t there been any gritting? It took me a good 20 minutes to get from Priory Chase to the A130 junction at South Woodham Ferrers, before giving up and coming home.
Hi Corey – Agreed. Un-believable what effect 3 inches of snow an have in the 21st Century!! CONGRATULATIONS to Headmistress Mrs Wreck of Downhall Primary though. Opened the school and is keeping it open all day today. Great to see some good old fashioned common sense.
Corey, I don’t know why. Though it is meant to be the worst snow since I had a beard. Maybe it’s time I investigated the county council budget salting budget again.
5 1/2 years ago we wrote on onlinefocus (August 10th 2003)
Chris has been asking more questions about the County Highways budget for winter salting and snowploughing this winter , getting information that the County don’t normally publicise.
The situation is this that the budget has been cut in most of South Essex:
In Rochford, cut from £103,335 last winter to £30,273 this winter
– In Castle Point,cut from £50,884 to £26,310
– In Basildon, cut from £106,735 to £63,820
– In Maldon, cut from £130,954 to £55,749
Even last year’s budget wasn’t enough- the total budget for these areas was £440,287 , but the County actually spent £453,087
County Council officers say there is no problem – if they need to spend more money, “in all likelihood” they will find the amounts from reserves somewhere.
Our thoughts are- even if the extra funds can be found at the last minute, slashing the budget by so much doesn’t exactly help the council staff plan properly for the winter. Also, why has Rochford’s budget been cut by more than two-thirds? Other areas haven’t been hit so badly.
There were warnings from the Met office since Thursday. The lack of gritting being carried out Sunday late afternoon / early evening was a disgrace. The A13 near Thurrock hadn’t been gritted and was treacherous because of the lack of grit.
I managed to get into work this morning (I work in Harlow) and have to say not one road I went on was gritted – that’s Rawreth Lane, A1245, A130, A12, A414. An absolute disgrace. Thankfully everyone on the road was driving appropriate to the conditions (except for one white van!!), so the journey went without incident.
I was working along the A12 near Witham Friday Night/ Saturday Morning and the road was being gritted at about 3am.
The A127 going into Southend was flowing well Monday morning, the traffic was very slow going into London though
Don’t get me wrong on this one Ian, I’m certainly not having a pop at you… merely venting my frustration with ECC – but what is the point of gritting a road 2 days before the event? Surely in that 48 hour period, cars will throw the grit into the air, which will eventually end up on the edge of the road, if not on the verge. Ultimately it is not where it is needed and that is on the road.
Reading today, most councils do not have enough grit to see us through this snap of bad weather – with more snow forecast for Thursday and snow showers on Friday and Saturday (according to http://www.weather.com) does Essex have enough grit to cope?
Are you sure they weren’t gritted? Were the conditions too bad so the salt wasn’t effective?
I wasn’t actually driving the gritter, just working beside the road, so they may have been gritted every night, I was only out for one of them.
Normal grit is effective upto -5 degrees. What was needed, was for it to be spread Sunday afternoon / evening to ensure the snow did not compact and become icy. I understand that Hambro Hill was supplied with grit by a “little old lady and her wheelbarrow”, perhaps she’s a council subcontractor… 😉