Grit bins: rock solid

Well I have spoken to Highways this week and last week regarding several local grit bins. They are rock solid and folk can't get any grit out of them. Apparently bins were filled with a mix of table salt and grit which may have frozen with the recent very low temperatures.

Cartoon: Local artist Russ - no news on 20 mph since last blog on the topic but Warbler out soon in Whiteshill and Ruscombe - Randwick trees below

One of the problems relates to three months ago when the problem was reported - I have assurances that the contractors have been asked to relook at that bin this week and other bins in Ruscombe. I am also wanting to know why the problem wasn't sorted 3 months ago re that bin?

See comment here from a local resident about that bin. Hey - I'll include a bit as it says nice things about me!!

"..... we have this really great District Councillor. Why is he great? - Well he's a Green Party member, and as we all know, the Greens are never going to get into government or rule anything, so he does the job for the simple reason that he wants the community to be better. It means that he hangs around the pub, weeds the allotments, speaks to people, goes to planning meetings, writes a blog, and I can e-mail him about our Grit Bin ......... which I did 3 months ago. And being the efficient concerned person that he is, he raised it with local government who committed to sort the issue out.

"Of course they didn't, but am I annoyed? No of course not. Councils all over the country are running out of grit. Welsh councils can use 12,000 tonnes of road salt on the roads in 24 hours, while salt mines could only provide the UK with up to 6,000 tonnes in the same period."

It does seem amazing that nationally we seem to be in a position where grit supplies are threatened again in parts of the country. We need to import over 30% of the salt we need. Local authorities have ordered more than a million tonnes of extra salt this year to combat the snow - a third more than they did for last winter. The problem is allegedly that it has not all been delivered! If this is true it is extraordinary.

In Gloucestershire I am hoping they have learnt lessons after last years nonsense - the County Council have doubled the amount they have in stock and have a new gritting programme and new snow ploughs. Any problems with grit bins can be reported on 08000 514 514.