Gritty problem for town council members
Monday, 18th January 2010.
The recent snowy weather has seen Haverhill Town Council being requested to change their policy of not providing grit bins.
Last winter the council agreed not to provide bins due to the cost and the problems of security.
Since 2000 it has provided two, the first of which was stolen and, learning from experience, the second placed, with conent, in a resident's garden.
The bins cost around £120, plus an initial £20 worth of grit to hold them down, and recent difficulties with ice and snow have been so great, the council anticipayes that if it was publicised it was considering providing them, there would be more than 50 requests, costing over £7,000.
Suffolk County Council's policy is not to grit unclassified roads, but it will refill containers with grit.
So the town council'd community first members, meeting next, will have to deicide whether to budget for this significant expense all at once, or possible supply some each year.
In the latter case some form of priority assessment would have to be devised.
Some members of th public have even offered to make a contribution towards the cost of a bin, but members may consider that to be discriminatory against those who could not afford to.
Bins are unlikely to be placed at roadsides, as in the past, as they fit neatly into pick-up trucks and can be used as covered storage for sand or cement, and are therefore likely to be stolen.
Last winter the council agreed not to provide bins due to the cost and the problems of security.
Since 2000 it has provided two, the first of which was stolen and, learning from experience, the second placed, with conent, in a resident's garden.
The bins cost around £120, plus an initial £20 worth of grit to hold them down, and recent difficulties with ice and snow have been so great, the council anticipayes that if it was publicised it was considering providing them, there would be more than 50 requests, costing over £7,000.
Suffolk County Council's policy is not to grit unclassified roads, but it will refill containers with grit.
So the town council'd community first members, meeting next, will have to deicide whether to budget for this significant expense all at once, or possible supply some each year.
In the latter case some form of priority assessment would have to be devised.
Some members of th public have even offered to make a contribution towards the cost of a bin, but members may consider that to be discriminatory against those who could not afford to.
Bins are unlikely to be placed at roadsides, as in the past, as they fit neatly into pick-up trucks and can be used as covered storage for sand or cement, and are therefore likely to be stolen.
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