We've got the grit, insists Council

Heavy snow covers Halifax Road on Sunday (20 December).

Rochdale Council has countered claims that they have failed to cope sufficiently with the deluge of weekend snow and say that they have been combatting the situation solidly for the last couple of days.

Residents have been contacting Rochdale Online with sorry tales about having to abandon their cars on certain roads and many have directed their anger towards the Council, saying they have not done enough in gritting icy roads.

Middleton resident Harry Alldritt, who works at Middleton Community Training Centre, was left so frustrated by the situation that he has called for the head of the Impact Partnership, the company that manages the Highways Service on behalf of the Council, to resign.

"I am absolutely furious as a resident of the borough that we are in this situation," he said. "A lot of major roads in Middleton simply have not been gritted. Whoever is in charge of the gritting policy should walk.

"Hereford Way is a main bus route in Middleton and that has not been gritted. I've had to abandon my car because there's just no getting up there.

"Somebody needs to be held accountable. Residents deserve better. We pay rates and yet the Council still could not be bothered to grit the roads. It's obvious that they are trying to save money or that they do not have the money to deal with the situation."

But the Council insists they have been out gritting since Thursday (17 December) and a spokesperson said 'we've been out pretty much solidly for the last couple of days'.

A spokesperson for the Impact Partnership said: "The gritters were out from Thursday and throughout the weekend. To cope with the deluge during the worst period yesterday and ensure that people could get to work this morning all available resources concentrated on the main roads throughout the borough. Overall this appears to have been successful.

“Calls for assistance are being put in priority order. We are concentrating on classified roads, secondary routes and main feeder roads. As a result it will take longer than we would like to respond to calls about side roads.

“We understand that there is no snow forecast for the rest of today but the forecast is to freeze this evening and therefore we are going to grit busy principal routes."

The Council says that more grit has been delivered today and that they are expecting further deliveries throughout the course of the week. Some residents say that they have been to the depot at Entwistle Road and reported that there was no grit to be seen, but the Council have countered that it is arriving in dribs and drabs and that people would not necessarily see a large stock pile at the depot.

They say that there is enough grit to cope with the overnight forecast.

Over the weekend, temperatures plummeted to -8.7 degrees Celsius (17F), the coldest temperatures since December 1995, with about 10cm of snow falling on Saturday and Sunday.

Snow showers and icy cold temperatures could mean Rochdale having a white Christmas on Friday but the amount of snow should lessen as the week goes on.

Snowfall caused a huge increase for the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) with calls quadrupling yesterday.

Derek Cartwright, NWAS director Derek Cartwright, said they had been inundated by calls about people slipping on ice and injuring themselves.

He said: “We’ve had 800 or so trips and falls across the North West up until yesterday, and that’s four times as much as we normally get for a Sunday.”

Last night the M60 was closed between junction 10 at the Trafford Centre and junction 11 at Barton in both directions to allow snow ploughs to clear the carriageways, causing severe tailbacks.

Passengers at Manchester Airport faced severe delays and cancellations yesterday after the runway was closed for 90 minutes for de-icing. Some passengers were still waiting to fly out this morning.

Businesses were today totting up the lost revenue caused by the weather keeping shoppers at home.

Many revellers cancelled pre-Christmas parties in pubs, clubs and restaurants, and drivers at some cab companies refused to turn out due to the treacherous weather.