We’ve had the following eloquent email from a resident today, which (with his permission) we are pleased to show in full:
Cllrs
Firstly I must say that this e-mail is in no way aimed at you personally, but should show the passion that I have in ensuring that these road and pavement conditions is an unacceptable one off on this occasion, and that this message gets to someone who can rectify these conditions.
I know that the weather forecast is not always spot on, but this area have had an inclination that we were going to expect a rather cold snap for the best part of 7-10 days now.
It always seems that we are totally unprepared for any adverse weather condition in this area or country. We experienced an early sign of things to come late on Thursday with a small dusting of snow. In the past we would have seen our Council gritters, out early, doing the best job that they can do, given the circumstances, making sure that overnight they can get to as many roads as possible so that they are in a drivable condition for the following morning. Over night we had a significant flurry of snow which could only be described as the worst snow that we have seen a while. Some 4-6inches in places. In the grand scheme of things this is not a great amount, but unlike in the past when a light dusting would have seen the gritters out in force, I have yet to see any evidence thus far of any grit to enable the good people of Rayleigh to go about their business at this busy time of year.
On one attempted visit to town yesterday I was unable to access Downhall Road from Cheapside East due to the ‘top’ of the road not being treated. As it was, a Police car passed by and when I flagged them down to explain the conditions and if they could use their ability to get things moving they said “It will most probably fall on deaf ears.” If this is the case, then we need more people to shout at the Highways department until something is done and not until they listen. It took half a dozen passers by to push me out onto Downhall Road and one to stop the moving traffic to allow me to drive out safely. You will notice that I said ‘top’ of the road and not the whole road. The circumstances of Cheapside East and Eastcheap for that matter, is exiting onto a mainroad on an uphill slope, I feel that the top of each of these roads would have benefitted from some salt/grit treatment. This may have been been sufficient enough for drivers to be able to get out onto Downhall Road safely and any salt/grit laid would have slowly melted down the road and been carried in by drivers movements. We have been asked to put our bins out this Saturday 19/12 instead of Monday for the Christmas collections. The binmen will not be able to get to some roads because of the conditions. The side roads will take longer to clear because they get forgotten or the midday sun is behind the houses.
What are the road sweepers/bin men doing this time of year? Are they fair weather workers? Can their bins be adapted to take grit to sprinkle on the paths and kerb areas where crossings are? My route up Crown Hill I saw 3 people slip and fall under the conditions. This is within half a mile journey, and felt disgusted that nothing had been done to treat the pavements also. It has turned out that one elderly lady broke her hip while on a visit to the town because the paths had not been treated. We have a relatively new retirement residence behind The Crown Public House. None of the paths leading to/from the town or the attached car park had been treated to enable relatives to visit and assist their seniors. These people have now and in the past paid enough for this not to be a problem or for someone totally not connected to the accommodation to get on their high horse and shout for them.
I feel I have shouted enough for now. Please could you pass this on to the relevant departments for their attention.
I hope you have an enjoyable Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Regards
Mr Chris Beard
I fully support what Chris has said here… On Thursday evening (17th) I got a very very slow train back to Rayleigh from Liverpool Street Station (due to the problems with overhead cables at Rayleigh/Hockley but that is a different story!)
Upon arrival at Rayleigh station at approx 22:45 the first issue was the fact that no attempt had been made at all to grit or clear the station platform – the snow was already at least 2 or 3 inches deep and this was extremely dangerous.
By this time it was snowing heavily and there was a strong wind i.e it was literally blizzard conditions.
There were no taxi’s on the road due to the fact that Essex County Council had failed – in my view criminal negligence – to grit the roads. This despite reassurances on Thursday morning through the media that they were fully prepared for the snow. The BBC’s breakfast programme was even broadcasting from an Essex CC gritting depot!
There were at least 20 people waiting for a taxi at the station at one point. The queue was also being bombarded with snowballs by Yobs from the opposite side of the road – a Police Car came into the station car park – slid off the road – but failed to stop and deal with the Yobs! So much for our local community Police.
I considered walking but (given the conditions and my unsuitable office footwear) I ruled this out for fear of falling and injuring myself, as the pavements had also not been treated. It took well over an hour for the first taxi to appear at midnight, by this time I was soaked and frozen.
Many of the taxi drivers had had accidents or had understandably gone home due to the dangerous conditions and the fact that many of the local roads were impassable because of the incline of the roads.
Congratulations to the taxi driver that eventually appeared and rescued me and three fellow commuters – he deserves a medal!
I am furious with Essex CC and would like a full explanation of why they failed their Council Tax payers so badly on this occasion and again call for what action can be taken by those unfortunate people that have been injured or had their livelihood’s damaged because of the Councils negligence.
I’m 100% with Mr Beard on this. I wonder how many Christmases will be spoiled because elderly relatives are in hospital with broken bones? Or because people couldn’t get to the shops?
I note that the County Council’s contractors couldn’t cope with their workload … I do hope we won’t be paying for that work they didn’t manage. Better still, why doesn’t County engage a contractor who CAN cope? As Mr Beard says (apologies if you’re not a Mr), we’ve known this was on its way for more than a week.
SO WHAT WENT WRONG THEN?
‘We can cope with icy roads’
Thursday, 17 December 2009
Yellow Advertiser
By Matthew Stanton
ESSEX councillors claim they are ‘confident’ they can cope with icy roads, despite running out of salt last year.
Essex County Council stressed its fleet of 65 gritters and work with contractors May Gurney and Balfour Beatty, who will supply salt, will improve operations this winter.
More than 20,000 tonnes of rock salt were used last year – 6,000 more than the amount recommended for normal winter – when temperatures fell below freezing on 57 days.
Councillor Norman Hume, Essex County Council’s cabinet member for highways and transportation, said keeping roads safe was the council’s ‘top priority’.
He said: “Like all local authorities, we were left in a perilous situation through a lack of salt supplies earlier this year.
“We have worked with our contractors to ensure that we can operate to our maximum effectiveness to keep the roads clear.
“I would emphasise that no road should ever be treated as safe because it is on a gritter route and roads can be iced over in minutes so motorists must make sure they take responsibility for ensuring they are prepared for all conditions.”
Snow hit the county for three continuous days at the beginning of February, making it the worst winter in 18 years.
Essex County Council spent an extra £4.8million getting roads back to standard before pledging to spend an extra £10million on improving residential roads.
The winter gritting service is on 24-hour standby from November to April and vehicles will use GPS technology to help track the roads that need the most salt.
Roads are OK -it’s the pavements that are dangerous!
Sid I think that some of the roads in our county were nothing short of dangerous, but I think that ECC said it all when compared to the results of the past few days!! Nothing more to be said apart from how many accidents could have been avoided if the ECC had an effective plan and had acted on it, for the conditions?
Been out tonight, and for the first time since this started had trouble keeping control of the car – firstly at the bottom of Love Lane, secondly at the London Road/ Down Hall Road junction…..
Yet again Hambro Hill was not gritted, but then, neither was the A13! Still, those arn’t bus routes or have councillors live on them are they…
I was surprised to hear about Hambro Hill – it was OK when I went up it on Tuesday night. As for roads where councillors live, Love Lane gets salted because of the school; not because of me….
It wasn’t intended as a dig at you Chris! Hambro Hill was impassable Thursday night and early Friday morning. Myself and several others spent quite a while pushing cars up the hill and spreading grit. There really needs to be a grit bin actually on the hill, rather than having to trudge along Upper Lampicks.
Festive greetings to all, especially those who work so hard keeping the Lib Dems as a political force to be reckoned with!
And festive greetings to you as well Robin!