WARRINGTON Council’s failure to grit roads properly has cost the local economy tens of thousands of pounds in lost revenue according to business leaders.
The council failed to make adequate contingency plans for the bad weather and was also slow to react to the poor road conditions, with many access roads and industrial estates still in a poor condition.
Commenting on the adverse weather conditions Chamber Chief Executive Colin Daniels (pictured) said: “Whilst nobody can be blamed for the extraordinary weather, the least that we expect is for local councils to make adequate contingency plans.
“This protracted cold spell was forecast before Christmas and yet it seems Warrington Borough Council has been caught by surprise. Not only have they failed to prepare properly, they have been extremely slow in responding to the conditions.
“Some of our members have lost thousands of pounds worth of business, not to mention the problems faced by staff in getting to and from work safely.
“Businesses in Warrington contribute £47 million net to the local authority through business rates and once again we have to ask “what consideration does business get?”
“Warrington’s roads are still treacherous in some places and the roads that are clear would appear to be so by virtue of traffic movement rather than Council activity.
“We are especially concerned that although traffic is now flowing on major roads, many of the access roads on to industrial estates and other business premises haven’t been cleared. It’s just not good enough.”
Last week a snap email poll of Chamber members asked if they believed that the Council had done enough to keep Warrington’s roads accessible. 97% of those responding gave the Council just one out of five for its performance, with many stating they would have given a zero rating if the question allowed it.
Sharon Walls, highways manager for the council said:“Over the last week or so the council’s gritting teams have been working tirelessly to keep the main routes into and around the borough moving. As the entire country is experiencing similarly icy conditions, supplies of salt and grit have been and continue to be controlled by central Government.
“Working with the stocks we have received we have had to make difficult decisions every day under exceptional circumstances. Any additional gritting off the main A roads will be subject to further salt supplies being made available.”
Gritting not good enough!
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Gary Skentelbery
Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.
10 Comments
Yet again, a senior council officer ducks the issue. Warrington Borough Council simply did not have enough salt or enough crews available to deal with an icy spell which has only been going on for 1 week now – in fact there hasn’t been any significant new snow since about last Wednesday – and yet somehow it’s all central governments fault for not being able to wave a magic wand?
Why don’t they just admit that they never re-stocked after the weather over Christmas because they all took extended holidays and simply left the entire Borough to fend for itself.
The state of the roads in Warrington are an absolute disgrace…does the council not perform contingency planning – it would appear not!
I think that they should be ashamed of themselves. I have not seen one gritter in Longbarn area and these include some ‘main’ routes. How do they decide which roads are important enough to grit?
The pavements are another issue – postman have been battling through to deliver in very dangerous conditions and some residents have had to clear pavements in the vacinity themselves – Warrington Borough Council this simply isn’t acceptable, again everything comes down to money and ‘resources’. I thought that our Council Tax contributed to such things….perhaps I am wrong!
It’s a wonder they haven’t got rid of the gritters as part of the cutbacks.
There is never any joined-up thinking in WBC.
Yet again words fail me with the responce of warringon borough council to this latest patch of snow. It isnt to bad if your young and mobile but what about the elderly and disabled the roads and patch are an absoloute nightmare to walk on the councill should of taken this in to consideration instead they left it to late yet again.And to make matters worse i only found out yesterday that there will be no bin collections in my street so i have to walk 500 yards with just bin bags on the snow and ice to a temporary collection centre on some football pitches not really on is it!.Its about time warrington councill got their act together in future to avoid another incident like this.
I wonder if we’d be better off if we were still part of a County Council – I think it’s Cheshire East now. Has Cheshire East been better (gritting and refuse) at handling the extreme weather than WBC? Just as an aside, one of my friends was trapped by ice on a key main road (not a side road by any stretch of the imagination) on the outskirts of Altrincham – I guess all councils are going to face a barrage of criticism.
I have got to agree with your comments all of you are spot on. I think Warrington Borough Council can hang its head in shame over this debacle, the latest in a long line of mishaps. Warrington North has been an absolute disgrace with only Winwick Road being gritted. I work in neighbouring towns and can say that Wigan and St Helens had just as much snow as we did in Wazza, yet their roads have been treated and are far more accessible.
new facebook group to get WBC to refund some Council Tax due to their appalling lack of action to the recent bad weather
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=284194283145&ref=nf
Public services are obviously not a priority for this Exec board who seem to be too busy ego-tripping on airy-fairy projects wasting millions whilst scrimping on the basics. These sad excuses do nothing other than add insult to injury!
warrington needs to get a proper buisness plan together for when this happens again. It will happen again. It is time that able bodied persons were able to clear the pavement outside their property without fear of prosecution for civil claims.
Lesson can be learnt from other towns and cities who move the snow before it is tramped down to ice. I moved the 4 inches of snow off my drive and pavement on day 1 and with a small amount of salt it has remained clear.
Everyone pays a lot of money to Warrington Council and expects a service fit for purpose, this winter the council policy has not been fit for purpose, two months of the council tax should be retuned from the fat cat wages that the council pay the chief staff who have failed the public who employ them.
What has happened to our councillors, no one is out kicking backside’s for the appauling service.
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