Town turns to ice as grit row continued in Cumbernauld

Cumbernauld would seem to have its own giant ice rink now - on its network of footpaths and pavements that remained ungritted by North Lanarkshire Council.

That is the claim that has sparked fury from residents who are questioning what their council tax is being used to pay for in the biggest town in North Lanarkshire.

The lack of grit, flagged up in this newspaper last week continues to be an issue, sparking a litany of complaints that walkers could come a cropper on the ice.

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The fact that grit supply bins are lying empty has meant that locals cannot help themselves.

Councillor Alan Masterton, whose hilly Cumbernauld North constituency has proved particularly hard to navigate, said that the complaints had not stopped since the end of December..

The Scottish Nationalist added: “I am very sympathetic to these concerns and have been in touch with the council on a daily basis to raise concerns over inadequate gritting in residential areas, build up of thick ice on many footpaths, and the slowness of the council in refilling grit bins, which would at least allow local residents to tend to their own streets.

“I will continue to pursue these issues with the council and will pass on the frustrations of local residents whilst encouraging the council to provide the best possible service to residents during periods of winter weather, which unfortunately have fallen short of in the last weeks.”

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The council admitted it had experienced issues with the distribution of grit as resources had to be deployed gritting major roads but said that the claims were not made in full view of the facts or the logicstics involved.

It insisted that the cold snap which kicked off after Christmas had demanded a major mobilisation of resources elsewhere.

A spokesperson said: “During this very cold period of weather our gritting fleet has been operating at full capacity to treat the primary roads and footpaths network; up to 500 staff have been deployed and over 6,000 tonnes of salt used .

“The extreme nature of the weather means the priority routes have to be repeatedly treated on a 24-hour basis. Rain freezing on contact with already freezing surfaces has caused significant black ice build-up which pre-treatment with grit cannot prevent.

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“Grit requires movement from vehicles and pedestrians to function effectively and rain washes existing grit away.

“Only once primary routes are treated, do we move to treating secondary routes.

“In common with other Scottish local authorities, we do not routinely treat most residential streets or pavements.

“Our gritting operations follow the winter gritting policy and the health and safety measures to minimise transmission of coronavirus and mitigate risks to our staff. In addition, we are the NHS and Scottish Government to ensure safe supply routes for vaccinations, medical supplies, testing centres and hospitals as well as cemetery access.”

It was stressed that salt was available from recycling centres if required.

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