Mike Barker slams failure to clear town centre snow

6.00.00pm GMT Tue 22nd Dec 2009

Speaking to traders in the Indoor Market this afternoon, Mike Barker found there is much anger about the deplorable state the town centre has been in for the past few days.

When the decision was taken to pedestrianise much of the town centre, a retailer on the Town Centre Board asked what steps would be taken to ensure that the newly pedestrianised areas, which include many steps, ramps and slopes, would be kept safe during the winter months. The Town Centre Board was assured by officers that a hit squad would be available to descend on the town centre whenever conditions required it. Clearly that hit squad no longer exists.

A retailer in the Indoor Market, speaking this week with a town centre Street Scene employee, was told by that employee that the reason the town centre pavements, wynds and pedestrian areas were not cleared of snow and ice for five days was that the grit-spreader, which hitches up to the back of one of the mechanised street sweepers, was broken and unable to dispense grit and salt. It seems the breakdown was reported to senior staff a couple of weeks ago, but nothing was done about getting it repaired, despite the employee insisting again later that it needed to be repaired.

When the gritting machine did eventually get out on the streets, it broke down twice more, further hindering attempts to clear the snow.

Clearly there has been no effective clearing of pavements in the town centre. Something went badly wrong and the Council's performance needs to improve - and quickly!