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Posted to uk.d-i-y
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Grit bin for the local roads for winter
"brass monkey" wrote in message
b.com...
"Frank Erskine" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 25 Dec 2011 23:08:03 +0000 (UTC),
(Andrew Gabriel) wrote:
In article ,
"David WE Roberts" writes:
In our avenue someone has organised with the Council to supply one of
those
yellow road salt/grit bins which allow you to grit paths, drives, the
roads,
your neighbours garden which has always irritated you etc.
Quite a good deal (we think).
The residents pay for the bin, then the Council keep it filled at no
extra
charge.
Cost us £9 for our contribution, so certainly worth a punt.
I mention it here because
(a) It seesm like a good idea if you have problems with local icy
conditions
and the gritting lorries ignoring you
(b) Because you have to do it yourself - both buying the bin and
spreading
the salt/grit :-)
Lots of councils have stopped doing them, after large numbers were
stolen (and/or the contents were stolen) over last two years.
Our local council places these each winter(ish) at strategic points,
such as near to steep banks and similar hazardous bits. Probably due
to cutbacks in spending they've left them there since last winter.
The main problem is that some people seem to regard this as a free
source of grit/salt/whatever_it_is for their own driveways rather than
what it's intended for, viz. the public highway (footways and
carriageway); as soon as the bin is replenished they're out with a
sledge and buckets to steal the precious stuff to meticulously clear
every bit of their property of snow/ice/frost.
A couple of years ago when there was a serious shortage of salt the LA
used road planings. Although they did little to melt the ice they did
help to improve traction a bit.
It works fine here, the youngsters shovel it along the street for all of
us. A single phone-call and the bin is refilled within an hour or two.
Then again, this is Britland.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh, LA = local authority, I thought it was Los Angeles.
Get onto your local councillor, many times. They submit (after a while) and
get things moving. Go steady on the naughty words, ours don't seem to like
that approach.
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