Jan 11: Pavements - is it Snow or ice?
KENT County Council has already admitted that it
did not do as good a job on treating pavements and footways during
the current cold snap as it perhaps should have done.
But what precisely were its
obligations anyway?
There has been much debate about
the responsibilities of councils when it comes to treating
pavements and predictably, there are as many opinions as there are
variations in the wildly fluctuating forecasts of BBC South East’s
innumerable weather presenters.
You might think that the answer
would be found in KCC’s own plan for coping with snow and ice
during the winter – a document known as the Winter Service
Plan.
Read the plan here>>>
And in one sense it is. Here is
a key extract:
"It would be impractical and
financially draining to carry out precautionary salting of
footways, pedestrian precincts or cycleways and therefore no
provision has been made. However, there will be a certain amount of
salt overspill onto footways and cycleways when precautionary
salting is being carried out on adjacent carriageways. Post salting
of footways and cycleways will be carried out on a priority basis
during severe winter weather, as resources permit."
Clear? Sort of. That is the
policy so far as salting is concerned. But what about snow
clearance?
This is what the plan
says:
"Snow clearance on footways
should be based on the priorities given below:
One footway in and around
shopping centres, and on routes to schools (in term time),
stations, bus stops, hospitals, medical centres, doctor’s
surgeries, old people’s homes, industrial and commercial centres
and on steep gradients elsewhere;
One footway on main arteries
in residential areas and the second footway in and around local
shopping centres;
With the approval of
Community Delivery Managers, other footways, walking bus routes and
cycleways as resources permit."
So, pavements won’t be salted as a matter of course under
the authority’s official plan but snow will be cleared from them –
depending on resources available and what else might be
happening.
(I read at the weekend that people who get injured falling
on a pavement or footpath might have a case for compensation
if they can show that it was left untreated for more than five days
- but it would all depend on whether the complainant could claim
the authority had not been reasonable.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I've been following the development of an interesting Facebook
group set up Stuart Jeffery, the Green's
prospective parliamentary candidate for Maidstone.
The group aims to put pressure on KCC to do more to treat icy
pavements as well as roads and already has more than 1,300 members
signed up. There has been a pretty robust debate on the site, as
you migth expect.
Stuart, who also has a very worthwhile blog which I recommend,
makes a point that I must admit I hadn't considered when he
writes that the approach to leaving pavements untreated
affects the least well-off in society - those who don't own cars
and rely on public transport or their own two feet to get
about.
What's interesting about this is that KCC is
itself increasingly keen on using social networking sites to
get its message out. (Although as far as I am aware, KCC staff are
still banned from accessing Facebook at work)
Here in Stuart's case is an example of how they are being
used increasingly as a way of bringing pressure to bear on our
elected representatives and to highlight perceived or actual
shortcomings.
Expect a lot more of them.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
County councils have taken umbrage at comments by the director
general of the BBC Mark Thompson, who they say has
slighted them by suggesting that what they do is not quite as
important as what the BBC pays to secure "top talent."
In an interview with BBC staff magazine Ariel, he
said:
"The public sector pay debate will continue ... but we
are not a county council. If you want someone to run BBC One or
develop iPlayer, you need the very best people in the
world."
The Guardian sought appropriately critical reaction from
various authorities but Kent, which has something of its own
reputation for rather substantial salaries for its most senior
officers, was not among them.
Talking of which, I note that Katherine
Kerswell, the President of SOLACE - the chief
executives' trade union - has opted to publish her salary package
and other remuneration details on her council's website and is
encouraging others to follow suit.
The chief executive of Northamptonshire, said:
"It is clear that chief executive salaries
continue to be an issue which generates debate. I believe we must
act to show we are committed to full transparency on the costs of
these roles and provide information to enable full understanding of
the values of these roles.
"We should not and need not wait for any new
legislation instructing us to do this and indeed we should all be
looking at other ways to improve our transparency and play our role
in rebuilding faith in government at all levels.
SOLACE has led the way in offering templates and
advice to all its members in publishing this
information."
Templates? We wonder if KCC has received one.
Golden handshakes -
Read how two former senior KCC directors received £680,000 between
them in a single year>>>
Monday, January 11 2010