"Roger Tonkin" wrote rg...
Gopher says...
We have a similar situation here.. Yet are expected to pay the same
council taxes as those who have roads gritted. The council refuses to
grit to our community stating the population base is too low. As is
often the case in very rural areas much of the population is older
rather than younger than average. They have removed any bus service; our
village is situated in a dip in the rolling hills hence any movement has
to be by car and they don't grit the roads which currently are like ice
rinks. Parish Council, which has protested vehemently at no grit (nor
grit bins made available) is considering either reducing the precept for
the village or recommending a boycott of the council tax. Should be
interesting.... I bet we get our roads gritted!




We have a similar situation, although the road at the end is gritted,
because it leads to the army ranges (gritting stops at the access
point!). Our council does provide grit bins, and a few weeks ago I
followed a council lorry up a narrow lane, where it stopped at the
bottom and top of every hill and shovelled a pile of grit onto the verge
- I wondered why at the time 'cos it took me ages to get to a point
where he could let me past, but they obviously knew something!

Reckon you should suggest involving one of the tv investigation
programmes, they could really embarass the council. It seems that all
councils operate a town/rural policy despite us all paying the smae
council tax. It was very obvious yesterday as I drove into town. The
road was mostly clear, but with two lines of snow/slush down the middle
of the lanes. As soon as I reached to town boundary signs, before any
side roads, the whole road was clear!

A friend lives on a tight bend in Byfleet, Surrey, a bus route through a
housing estate (where some people drive too fast anyway). There was a yellow
grit bin on the bend and he used to be the one to shovel the grit onto the
roads as he didn't want any more accidents outside his house. A few months
ago he noticed the bin was empty so rang the Council and asked that they
provide a top up. Some hours later a Council grab lorry arrived so he went
outside to find them lifting the bin which they then carted away despite his
protestations, they then also took away the one further down the road.
The logic escapes me.
--
Regards
Bob Hobden
W.of London. UK