Minister hails gritting staff

TRUE grit... Andrew Stunell (left), Councillor John McCann (centre) and Elwyn Watkins (second from right) with council gritting staff

COUNCIL staff have been praised for showing true grit during the big freeze.

Local Government Minister Andrew Stunell said employees had coped extremely well under challenging circumstances.

Mr Stunell also paid tribute to the member of staff who was threatened by a gang of men claiming to be council subcontractors before stealing eight tonnes of grit from a local depot earlier this month.

He said: “The recent spell of bad weather was a good test of Oldham Council’s readiness for dealing with extreme conditions.

“I was pleased to hear how well Oldham managed to cope given the challenging geography of the borough and the true grit shown by the staff.

“But I was equally shocked to learn that one of the depots has been targeted by a gang of men intent on stealing stocks of supplies critical to the safekeeping of local residents and vulnerable people.

“I’m pleased that the member of staff who challenged the gang was not hurt during this incident, he showed tremendous courage standing up to these callous thugs.”

Oldham East and Saddleworth Liberal Democrat candidate Elwyn Watkins added: “Living in Delph I know how treacherous the conditions were recently.

“ I was very impressed with the hard work and commitment by council staff to keep main roads and routes to key services open, they deserve our huge gratitude.”