Grit spend set to double this year - will Tunstall's grit bins be included in these plans
After last years farcical attempts of keeping our roads safe, the council forgot to fill the grit bins in Tunstall. On my road alone there were three crashes, of which one was very serious.
During the period leading up to the Christmas break, I tried my hardest to try and get the council to supply the Bankeyfields estate with grit, whilst other neighbourhoods in Tunstall tried in vain to guarantee a supply also failed.
In fact throughout 2009 at our monthly Neighbourhood meetings we'd brought up the issue on many occasion to council officials present, so really can't see how our estate was overlooked.
In a newly published report from the council it states
the 5,000-tonne reserve is necessary to prevent disruption to public transport, the economy and society in the event of bad weather. It says: "During the last two winters, the UK has experienced some of the worst weather in recent memory.
"The winter of 2009/10 had the worst-recorded weather for 31 years.
"Extreme snow and ice conditions resulted in widespread disruption.
Matters were made worse over he two/three weeks of the Christmas period as all departments whose job it was to refill bins were on annual leave. We did have a couple of bags of grit supplied by then Councillor Lee Wanger after a few calls and emails to Cllr Megan Ryan.
We have 3 councillors in Tunstall at the minute, I'd suggest writing or emailing them now to see if they can a) pull their finger out and make sure grit bins where you live are noted and added to the filling roster and 
reminded that they can soon become empty so will need a way of getting new stocks. All staff on annual leave over this period is not an excuse for helping estates in time of great need.
Hopefully Stoke-on-Trent City Council will have learnt it's lessons from last year and abandon less estates this winter.
Comments
I agree in theory that last
I agree in theory that last year was a total cock up regarding the amount of grit that was available for the city. However this problem was compounded by people being inconsiderate to the needs of others.
Last year when we did have grit in the bins at least 60% of the grit was used by people who thought that their driveways were more important than the estate roads. This year I would urge residents to make sure the roads outside their property are cleared of snow and ice with the grit provided before using the grit on their drive’s, it makes no sense to me gritting your drive if you cannot get off the estate. Perhaps we could ask residents which areas of the estate are more hazardous than other so we can grit these first.
Hiya Bryn, I agree, I think
Hiya Bryn, I agree, I think we need to get this sorted as soon as possible.
I think it should go onto the next agenda @steve
I wonder if enough residents
I wonder if enough residents get together they can bulk buy their grit for their own drives?
As to people working together to get the roads cleared straight away, I'd love a bit of help my end. If anyone sees any snow shovels between now and winter please let me know, as my little shovel was no cop last year.
Anyone wanting a snow shovel
Anyone wanting a snow shovel Ebay have got plenty.
Funny this I said to Richard
Funny this I said to Richard a couple of weeks after your last meeting would it be time to raise grit bin supplies, and he was going to at the next meeting.
Bulk buying - good idea if you can get enough people but that would rely on us paying for it as we never did manage to claim last year's back! I know Richard wondered whether a group could go direct to the council to collect the grit - now you have some more loyal residents at your committee meetings - could this be looked into again.
Road clearing - good luck with trying to get people to do this, we live at the top of JRW and the amount of people that walked past last year and said "don't know why you are bothering" whilst we were cleaning the road was amazing - although saying that if we are around and it snows again we will be there clearing it away - if not trying to get back home from work / schools etc.
Snow shovels - not sure whether they have them in yet but Select House next to Matalan in Wolstanton usually have some in, not sure if the stock has been delivered yet but will look the next time I go in.
I asked Steve to mention this
I asked Steve to mention this at last nights Tunstall's Residents Forum (where members of RA's from around the area all meet up).
Someone beat him to it, and it was a hot topic of debate, mostly one of dissatisfaction. Especially from Pitshill residents (the one with the very long and steep bank) who seem to have been forgotten. Ok, they might not be part of the main driving infrastructure since the bypass came into play, but have you seen the incline on that road.
I think it's a topic that we now don't let our councillors and council don't forget about and don't ignore.
More strategic planning needs to be done way in advance so last years cock up doesn't happen again.
In a meeting on Wednesday
In a meeting on Wednesday Night council officials stated that they were still looking into more grit bins. However, they did not want to comment when I asked, will the grit bins have grit in them.
We had 2 grit bins on our road last winter but ended up having to purchase our own grit...
Wasn't there a we'll fight
Wasn't there a we'll fight tooth and nail for this resource response? Other councillors will be doing that in other areas.
Sorry been to Select House
Sorry been to Select House today and snow shovels are not yet in stock
Thanks Rach
Thanks Rach
Webb Monkey, "Grit set to
Webb Monkey, "Grit set to double"
Well on the Hoskins estate we had not one grain -even though there is a bus route through it, which they promptly stopped- so does that mean we get nothing again.
After pressing our councillors we got the same reply as you.
"We'll look into it"
We have learned to hold our breath for so long that we ave become masters in it.
I would like to see more grit
I would like to see more grit bins on Spitfire Way do any residents think the same and if we were to get any where should we put them.
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