‘I’m proud of our efforts to keep Oldham moving’
Reporter: Oldham Chronicle exclusive
Date published: 11 January 2010
TRUE GRIT . . . a council snow plough in action last Monday evening as the heavy snow hit the Oldham area.
OLDHAM Chief Executive Charlie Parker vigorously defends the council’s gritting policy.
THIS is a challenging time, but I am proud of Oldham Council’s work in keeping Oldham’s main roads open.
A short journey outside of our borough serves only to emphasise that we have performed better than several neighbouring authorities in this regard.
However, we have faced criticsm — much of which I feel is unwarranted and unfounded.
The Chronicle itself, in an editorial comment on Wednesday under the heading “Snowfall standstill” wrote: “The Monday night/Tuesday morning snowfall went completely unattended. No roads were cleared, no gritting was done and those of us leaving for work or school on Tuesday morning faced the most horrendous conditions.”
In general we believe the reporting of the severe weather has been comprehensive, balanced, and accurate but we strongly take issue with this.
Our Highways department have confirmed to me full details of their activity on Monday, January 4 and Tuesday, January 5, and it clearly shows that the roads were anything but “completely unattended”. We deployed every possible resource.
Our team of ten gritters have been staffed 24/7 in split 12-hour shifts continuously now since snow first began falling on the evening of Thursday, December 17.
As reported in the Chronicle “Under control” (December 23) by Karen Doherty, our gritting and road clearing activities are tracked meticulously by sat-nav technology at the Lees Road depot.
On the reporter’s visit to the depot she was shown this technology and how it monitors our work to a very fine level of detail. That tells us not just which streets have and are being treated, but even at what speed, by which vehicle/driver, and the amount of salt they are spreading.
As soon as road surface temperatures drop below freezing, we always grit — with or without snow falling at that time. The reason we do this is that snow is dangerous, but ice is potentially lethal.
As further evidence of our work is a series of photographs that was taken by a freelance on the evening of January 4.
The image (above) shows a snow plough gritting and clearing Union Street – directly outside the Oldham Evening Chronicle office – at 10.08 pm.
Extreme weather conditions like these do not mean everything can run as normal. This did not just affect Oldham, it affected the entire Greater Manchester region and beyond. Buses in Manchester, and as far afield as Merseyside, were cancelled due to these conditions. Airports closed and several major roads were closed.
In recent days film crews and journalists from Sky, ITN and the BBC — to name but a few — have been out to see our gritting crews at work. We have had very positive feedback from them, and from the TV coverage which followed.
Our gritting team has worked 12-hour shifts, seven-days a week during this weather. Gritting is not their normal ‘day job’ – these staff usually work for highways and the street lighting departments.
They therefore also had extra responsibilities to take care of on top of this — and some were even ‘on call’ for these when not out on the borough’s roads.
Strenuous efforts have been made to try and make the holiday period enjoyable for them but, as their own manager admits they have “not had much of a Christmas” and have been “virtual strangers” to their family.
During this period, I can also tell you that the staff absence rate in this team has been zero.
Their dedication to this task has been unstinting and, frankly, inspirational.
Council staff have received many expressions and gestures of support for these efforts from the public during this time.
This is the worst weather in 20 years and I am proud that we have employees like this who have gone the extra mile to try and keep the borough moving and open for business.
Of course there are difficulties, and there is likely to be more bad weather on the way.
However, the assertion that the problems associated with the snowfall and ice “went completely unattended” does, I believe, a great disservice to the efforts of our staff – and the detailed planning and preparation that underpinned it.
We are pursuing more salt to constantly improve safety on roads and pavements. We can’t do every side street and pavement but we are doing our best to keep the borough on the move, and we have seen many examples of local residents and communities also helping to do their bit.
Council gritting log over the heavy snow period
Monday, January 4
12 midnight – 07.30
14 staff on full team of 10 gritters – all deployed on primary routes deploying grit at 15gms/square metre
Top roads – Minimum road surface temperature: - 10 degrees
Low roads – Minimum road surface temperature – 7.9 degrees
07.30 – 18.00
Shift change. Full team of 10 gritters on duty.
All deployed on primary routes deploying grit at 15gms/sq metre
Road surface temperatures same as above.
Still deployed on all primary routes
18.00 – 21.00
Shift change.
Full team of 10 gritters.
Major route gritting – still at 15gms/sq metre
21.00 – 12 Midnight
Shift change due to drivers working regulations – still on all major routes
Top roads – Minimum road surface temperature: -5.5 degrees
Low roads – Minimum road surface temperature –4 degrees
Tuesday, January 5
12 Midnight – 07.30
Primary route gritting continues with full team of 10 gritters.
Spreading rate upped to 20 gms/square metre on A,B and C roads
Still 15 gms/square metre on E and F roads
Top roads – Minimum road surface temperature: -5.5 degrees
Low roads – Minimum road surface temperature –4 degrees
07.30 – 16.00
Still gritting as above with full team of 10 gritters.
A team of 8 JCBs and subcontractors all deployed through the day clearing snow across the Borough until 1600 hours
Two more ‘severe weather warnings’ received from Met Office
Top roads – Minimum road surface temperature: -5.5 degrees
Low roads – Minimum road surface temperature –5 degrees
16.00 - 20.00
Full team of 10 gritters.
Ploughing and ‘digging’ out work continuing on top roads – remain at -5.5 degrees
20.00 - 12 Midnight
Full team of 10 gritters.
Work starts to ‘pre-grit’ major roads as snowfall was stopping and a clear dry night was forecast
Clearing work concentrating on the A62, A672 and A6052
Full ‘clearing’ back-up still ongoing
ESTIMATED GRIT/SALT USED 500 tonnes
ESTIMATE MILEAGE 1,010.3 miles
