Anger at lack of road sale

Mar 10 2010 by Jonathan Geddes, Rutherglen Reformer

SOUTH Lanarkshire Council have defended their recent handling of bad weather in Rutherglen and Cambuslang.

The Reformer received numerous complaints regarding the levels of grit on local streets, as the country was swamped by snow and sleet.

And when the bad weather returned recently, the council was again criticised for the amount of grit they provided.

Norman Kane, of Monteith Place, claimed his area hadn’t received any grit, and had been cut adrift as a result.

He said: “This has been a problem for a few years now, but it’s obviously been much worse this year.

“The council have refused to send a gritter up here, because they say that the gritters can’t turn properly on the street.

“Then when we got more snow recently, people were cut off completely.

“If somebody had taken ill there would have been no chance of anyone getting up here to help, as the roads were that bad.

“We’ve been totally ignored – the gritter comes nearby, and we can see it, but then it turns about and goes away.

“And it still goes into other nearby streets and turns there.

But the council insist that with the weather having been so poor for such a long period of time, they have had to work on a reduced gritting schedule.

A spokesperson for South Lanarkshire Council said: “The cold weather has been consistent since mid-December, making it the worst winter weather in over 30 years.

“Nationally, salt supplies continue to be severely restricted and all councils are being asked, by Central Government, to cut salt usage by 50 per cent.

“The council have continued to grit 60 per cent of their network on a precautionary basis, albeit at reduced gritting rates.”