Winter maintenance consultation

 
Issued by City of York Council

It may one of the hottest month’s of the year, but City of York Council is preparing for the winter season and asking for residents’ views on the future service.

From Monday 12 August until Sunday 1 September, residents and businesses are invited to complete a three-week consultation on the criteria which is used to help determine how and where the council provides winter maintenance across the city.

The council will undertake a review of the criteria for the first time since the Local Government Reorganisation in 1996, when York became a Unitary Authority.

To take part in the survey or view the criteria and gritting maps please visit the council website’s winter maintenance page.

The review will ask for feedback on the criteria used to grit routes and the location of grit bins, which will be used to help rationalise and streamline services to focus on priority areas.

Over the last year the council has developed new criteria to measure and assess which areas in York should be gritted according to how and where they are positioned, or if the area is on a slope and therefore should be placed on the gritting network.

The objective criteria has also been developed on where grit bins should be placed.

The consultation will ask peoples’ views on these policies and where they think winter provision is most needed in the city, whether the council should prioritise gritting, or if they believe existing grit bins should be relocated to make best use of its location.

In addition to this, the council hopes to build on the popular snow warden initiative, which has attracted over 120 volunteers so far across the city, by asking for feedback on what improvements could be made to the community based scheme.

There are approximately 400 grit bins located across the city, of which 145 are funded by the Highways department and 56 are self-funded and so do not form part of the review and consultation.

The remainder were previously funded by Ward Committees. The proposals would increase the number of grit bins funded through the Highways team to 158.

Cllr David Levene, Cabinet Member for Environmental Services, said: “This review has enabled us to make the savings made necessary by reduced Government funding whilst for the first time since 1996 drawing up a clear, fair, transparent policy on salt bin placement and our grit network.

“We need to ensure that we provide the best possible service to residents and businesses which is why their views are so important and will help guide our decision.”

Through the review, the council has adopted a responsive and customised system that ensures that the gritting fleet has optimised its route to its maximum capacity.

The review follows agreement at February’s full council budget meeting to make £60,000 savings to this service.

The safety of residents and visitors is paramount and measures will be put in place during conditions where gritting is required, to ensure provisions are in place to grit all key routes when necessary.

Feedback from the consultation will be taken to a decision session on 24 September and considered before any final decisions are made.

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