'' The problems encountered by Ribble Valley residents in the big freeze must not be allowed to happen again '' says Councillor Ken Hind senior vice Chairman of the Ribble Valley Conservative Association . '' We have seen in recent days able bodied unable to get to work. Disabled elderly people and families living in side roads unable to to get their cars out or get out of their homes.Village communities cut off and unable to get to work and shops. ''Lancashire County Council are the local authority responsible for gritting the roads and pavements unfortunately not the Ribble Valley Borough Council. ''Unfortunately the current budget and plans made before the County Council election in May 2009 were inherited by the current Conservative administration which opposed Labour's plan to take £250,000 out of the gritting budget for this year. Despite this the LCC have gritted the roads for 27 days including more roads that any other authority in the North of England and do have supplies left . ''Due to other authorities cutting budgets Central Government have stepped in and told Lancashire they cannot fill grit bins in side roads, or grit side roads and now controlling all supplies of salt to local authorities . Only main A and B roads can be gritted to make supplies of grit go further. Lancashire have forward ordered supplies of salt for next month but now the government are controlling the supply disrupting local plans by telling the Council how much salt they can receive. ''Local farmers who have traditionally cleared country roads have been prevented from doing this by new rules from the EU requiring NVQ qualifications and Health and Safety controls. As a consequence some rural communities unnecessarily have been cut off for days such as the village or Cowark . ''During the freeze local County Councillors have worked tirelessly to help people locally. ''Deputy Conservative Leader of the County Council Albert Atkinson and Association Chairman has promised a major review of the gritting plans throughout Lancashire to deal with future problems to avoid this happening again. The review which will include consultation with Town and Parish Councils and will involve a major review of the gritting policy and provision to train local farmers to enable to meet EU requirements to clear rural roads. ''Speaking form a personal point of view, the review must include consideration of gritting of side roads and pavements, more grit bins in residential areas and in villages for pavements and roads that are essential, but not classified as A and B roads plus the refilling of grit bins in bad weather . ''This review will not wait for the Spring as there are potentially 3 months of winter weather remaining and we must prepare for further snow falls and freezing weather in February and March. ''In the interim Ribble Valley local councillors whether Borough or County working with Town and Parish Councillors would welcome representations from the public to make a contribution to the review, highlighting particular local problems .'' |