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Winter resilience; dealing with snow, ice on our roads and pavements
Winter is coming and with it the likelihood of extreme weather, and Balerno Community Council (BCC) and City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) are working on plans for dealing with that. We are both working so as to avoid so far as possible a repeat of the difficulties of last year when snow and then ice following freezing temperatures gripped Balerno. Your Community Council has had two very constructive meetings with Edinburgh Council in the past month, and we have heard from them about several changes they have made since last year. Firstly they have taken delivery of 20 new mini tractor snow ploughs which should assist in terms of reliability, and overall salt supply has been fully restocked. They have also looked closely at the internal organisation of the department with a view to better protection of communities especially those at greatest altitude across the city, including Balerno. The road side monitoring stations across the City have also been equipped with cameras to permit visual monitoring of routes, again including in Balerno. Staff also have revised detailed instructions which are more robust and flexible so as to cope with the worst of the possible weather. There are also some 60 road salt bins across the village, and they will be regularly monitored; they contain salt, not grit, which is much more effective than a sand and salt mixture. Those bins are for neighbourhoods use, particularly since treatment of side roads cannot for resource reasons be treated as priority. Please try to remember that only a small amount of salt is necessary to treat an area of ice and CEC staff encourage us not to waste it by scattering it as if it were grit. Bus routes and associated pavements are the top priority - referred to as Priority One - along with roads and pavements around schools, and also some of the rural roads like the Rigg Road and Harlaw Road. There is also a network of linking paths which are graded as Priority One. The Community Council have suggested some extensions to that Priority One path network, and we are hopeful that the list will be revised accordingly. You can see the Priority One routes on the City Council’s website at - https://data.edinburghcouncilmaps.info/datasets/cityofedinburgh::gritting-routes-1/explore Unfortunately resource constraints mean that treating roads and pavements other than Priority One is the exception, although the City Council does try to get round to them when possible; and the City is aware that snow and ice is more likely in the upland areas of the City. We are also discussing with the City Council largely at our initiative,whether there is scope for more assistance for self-help within Balerno; we are looking at community resilience in general and we will keep you in touch with what is going on in that sphere. Please take care if you do decide to clear snow or ice from outside your house, and remember that both can be slippy and heavy work, so please do not take risks with your health. RICHARD HENDERSON, Chairman, BCC A reminder that members of Balerno Community Council (BCC) will be at Saturday's (November 8) Farmers Market and keen to hear your views on the future of the village. Your views matter and look for BCC members with their hi-vis jackets. We do not have a stall. Our picture below shows BCC member, Mark Galloway (right) talking about the Local place plan with a local resident.  |
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