Hats off to all the teams helping to clear the roads and pavements. This in from the council. Ed
While much work has been done around the clock to keep our strategic roads as safe as possible, teams of workers have also been out treating footways to help pedestrians go about their business.
The teams who would normally be keeping our streets clean have turned their attention to treating snow and ice from priority pavement areas.
A list of these areas had been drawn up following lessons learned from the big freeze last January.
Diverting staff’s roles
The ability to divert staff from street sweeping to clearing snow and ice was built into the new street cleansing contract recently awarded to Urbaser.
The teams that have been out are all Island-based staff who transferred to Urbaser. They have been supported by the IW Council’s environment officers.
Teresa Mitchell, IW Council principal waste and contracts officer, said: “The contract was specifically modified to give staff snow and ice clearing duties while they were unable to do the cleansing duties.
“They have done really well treating areas that were identified as priorities after last January’s icy weather. Because of the need to conserve salt supplies, we do have to focus solely on the priority areas.
“Nevertheless, I am sure pedestrians in many busy and hilly areas will have noticed an improved response compared to January.”
