Lessons from cold blast (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Lessons from cold blast

8:47am Friday 29th January 2010

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Sir.– Some letters published recently have been critical of the county council for not treating more pavements and residential areas during the severe weather.

I would like to say I am sorry that people have had to struggle with icy roads and pavements. I do think we did all we can, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn from this and do better.

At the start of this winter, we had stored 12 days’ supply of salt – 12,000 tonnes – which was twice the level recommended by Government. From the start of the cold weather on December 17, our staff were out round the clock treating the roads.

As the bad weather continued, we had up to 300 people working on the roads and pavements and these included people from our countryside and waste collection services as well as colleagues from the district and borough councils.

To date, we have spent around £2million clearing Hampshire’s roads of snow and ice, and have used more than 14,000 tonnes of salt. Each of Hampshire’s main roads has been salted over 50 times, and the secondary routes 12 times.

We need to look ahead now, and plan how we can prepare for a future that may see harsher winters.

We are looking at stocking more salt, and leasing more equipment and different vehicles which can get down smaller roads. We are looking into tripling the number of grit bins in the community so more people are able to help themselves and their neighbours, harnessing the great community spirit we have in this county. We will be working very hard to get Hampshire into a position to take on whatever the weather throws at us – and whether this turns out to be an occurrence once every 30 years, or commonplace every winter, we will do our best to be ready.

–Councillor Ken Thornber, Leader of Hampshire County Council, The Castle, Winchester.

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