ICY pavements plagued Cirencester, days after snow hit the town.
Residents in Cirencester took to Facebook to air their complaints about icy surfaces in town.

Many said that not enough had been done to clear the pavements.
Amy Stewart, 24, from Chesterton, last Wednesday posted a photo on the Facebook group Cirencester, A Local Town for Local People showing two people clearing a pavement.

She said: “So lovely to see the people of Cirencester shovelling the ice this morning so that others can walk into town without falling over. Just want to say a huge thank you to these two lovely people!”

But she said she was “really surprised how the main paths into town seem to have been forgotten about by the council resulting in residents having to clear them the best they could”.

She continued: “I also had much difficulty getting over the bridge from Chesterton into town, I had to walk on the road to prevent myself falling, as did many other people. It’s very dangerous with the amount of cars that go that way but it was the safest option.”

Allan Daniels, a Cirencester resident, commented: “People are having to walk on roads and run the risk of being hit by a car.

“The paths around Trinity Road and Watermoor are severely dangerous I have slipped a few times off the path onto the road."

Others on Facebook pointed out that businesses and residents needed to take responsibility and clear the paths by their premises or homes.

Councillor Joe Harris has hit out at all three local councils, saying that there was a "lacklustre response to the recent arctic conditions across the Cotswolds".

He set up a petition (www.cotswoldlibdems.org.uk/ice) last Tuesday calling on the county council to do more to help residents in the Cotswolds, particularly in rural areas and housing estates. The petition attracted 200 signatures in three days.

Cllr Harris said: “While it’s great that they got the main roads open so quickly, if people can’t get to them then it totally undermines their good work.

"It also means elderly and vulnerable people and those with mobility problems can’t get out.

“The number of signatures we’ve seen on my petition in just a short space of time highlights that people agree with me, we don’t expect every road and pavement to be cleared by the councils but we can do better than what we’ve seen.

"More information is needed about when residents can clear their pavements, I’ve heard many residents and business owners say they are afraid to because they might be sued."

A spokesperson for Gloucestershire County Council (GCC), which is responsible for roads and highways, clarified that the council was responsible for providing parishes with grit bins but not necessarily for clearing ice from footpaths.

Grit bins and refills are requested by town/parish councils.

GCC's Adverse Weather Plan policy states: "Whilst some precautionary treatment of footways and cycleways would be desirable, precautionary treatment of footways and cycleways is not undertaken."

The policy is based on a range of factors including the level of risk presented to drivers; the usage of the roads in comparison to footways and cycleways; the complexity of treating footways and cycleways; and the level of available resource.

The policy also states: "At the discretion of the Amey Gloucestershire Operations Manager and if time and resources allow we may undertake reactive treatment during periods of heavy snow or prolonged freezing temperatures at high priority locations following inspections or reports from the Police."

Cirencester Town Council confirmed that it had sent a small team to grit the priority pavements in the town centre, using 2.5 tons of rock salt/grit. 

The team also used 0.5 tons of de-icing flakes on footbridges and one ton of rock salt/grit to refill grit bins across Cirencester.

CEO Andrew Tubb said: "Whilst Cirencester Town Council is not directly responsible for gritting the public footpaths and roads we all have a responsibility to look out for each other and provide help and assistance where we can in such times. In doing so we have previously assisted the ward community groups with funding to purchase additional grit bins in residential areas. 

"We are also in the process of contacting all the ward based community groups to look at how we can best support them in the future with resources such as delivering grit, providing temporary grit containers and snow shovels."

Advice on snow clearing and winter-related issues can be found on: www.cotswold.gov.uk/residents/get-ready-for-winter

What do you think about the icy pavements in Cirencester?