December 7, 2010 11.43 am This story is over 158 months old

County Council: Clear your own pavement

D.I.Y.: Lincolnshire County Council are asking people to deal with their own pavements and roads, while gritters work on busy routes.

People in Lincoln are being warned to be careful and sort their own roads and pavements while gritters focus on primary routes in the wake of the icy weather.

Lincolnshire County Council hopes that residents will help them by tackling their own roads and pavements while the attention is focused on priority roads.

There are salt bins located across areas of the city, however theft from the large bins is “jeopardising” attempts to try and clear the pavements.

Principal Maintenance Engineer David Davies believes that the gritters are doing well, but they need to continue to focus on roads.

He said: “We will only be able to help residents out with pathways in exceptional circumstances.

“With temperatures struggling to get above freezing point, these are areas of concern and we encourage people to rally round with snow clearing and salt-spreading.

“New Government guidance reassures people that, unless they commit an irresponsible act such as throwing down hot water, they won’t be liable for accidents when clearing ice and snow outside their homes.

“We will get around the county to refill grit bins as quickly as possible after being notified that they are running low.

“We ask residents to keep a close eye on them too, following reports in some areas of the county that bulk quantities are being stolen by people in vehicles. We remind people that the salt is only for use in your own area.”

The county council also reminded residents that grit doesn’t always make a route safe, as the current freezing temperatures can make it ineffective.

“The other warning this week is that even salt on the main roads is not being as effective as it can be.

“Sunday night’s roadside temperatures got as low as -10 and air temperatures -14; unfortunately, salt starts to work less when we reach -8, meaning even more caution is required.”

Gritters in the county have so far repeatedly ploughed and salted over 3000km of priority roads and some secondary routes.

10,000 tonnes of salt has been used in the county, the the council still has 20,000 tonnes in stock, with another 10,000 on the way.

Source: Lincolnshire County Council