As planned I got the 44 to Balerno on Saturday to see the conditions and make a few visits. Walked up Main St and Mansfield Road, back down through the Threipmuirs and into Deanpark where there were teams of contractors clearing snow and gritting in the streets around the Primary School. Then walked up to Ravelrig Park where residents were gamely shovelling snow. Pavements up there were impossible and pedestrians had walk on the road. After a brief
and welcome coffee I walked back down via Cherry Tree Park and Crescent, both of which were horrendous with the snow, and down into Curriehill Castle Drive. From there up to Currievale Park Grove and then through the High School to Thomson Road. Waited 20 mins for a 44 home and then 6 came at once ! My
conclusions ? Lots of snow, heaps of community spirit with residents working together to clear what they could and Council staff and contractors working hard with heavy duty machinery. However, with the best will in
the world these workers can only do so much in a shift and I still don't think there are enough resources being deployed to make the difference that needs to be made. I'll keep banging on about it within the Council.
As planned I got the 44 to Balerno on Saturday to see the conditions and make a few visits. Walked up Main St and Mansfield Road, back down through the Threipmuirs and into Deanpark where there were teams of contractors clearing snow and gritting in the streets around the Primary School. Then walked up to Ravelrig Park where residents were gamely shovelling snow. Pavements up there were impossible and pedestrians had walk on the road. After a brief 
and welcome coffee I walked back down via Cherry Tree Park and Crescent, both of which were horrendous with the snow, and down into Curriehill Castle Drive. From there up to Currievale Park Grove and then through the High School to Thomson Road. Waited 20 mins for a 44 home and then 6 came at once ! My 
conclusions ? Lots of snow, heaps of community spirit with residents working together to clear what they could and Council staff and contractors working hard with heavy duty machinery. However, with the best will in the world these workers can only do so much in a shift and I still don't think there are enough resources being deployed to make the difference that needs to be made. I'll keep banging on about it within the Council.
2 comments:
Mr Henderson, it sounds from your blog that the Council have NOT listened to your plea's - so what now ? How much longer are we going to be without Council support in the clearing of our roads and pavements... the schools are back today and our children were expected to walk on the road for large parts of their journey... where is the duty of care that the council is supposed to show? More snow has arrived today and again teams of residents are out clearing large swathes of snow and ice from roads and pavements - a necessity in the dark before cars could get into their drives...
Can I ask what the point of sending 'heavy duty machinery' around to clear streets near schools on Sunday was... all they did was to move it onto the surrounding pavements or side streets...??? Why could they not spend an extra 30 mins or so part clearing these side streets - at least as far as they could go...?
A rather Disgruntled Resident.
Disgruntled,
Many thanks for your message, I can fully appreciate your frustration. I think the answer to your points is clear. We need more resources in the Pentland Hills Ward to clear roads/footways and grit to make safe. The Council's response so far has been insufficient to deal with the scale of the problem and I'll keep pointing that out. By all means email me with any specific locations that you think need priority treatment. Ricky H
Post a Comment