Gritting (continued) as the weather gets colder

Having received a phone call from someone (I presume based at Wirral Council) I now better understand why there are the problems with gritting (and complaints from residents). Although I was told that routes on the list are being gritted, the grit isn’t being as effective as it could be due to the low temperatures. … Continue reading “Gritting (continued) as the weather gets colder”

Having received a phone call from someone (I presume based at Wirral Council) I now better understand why there are the problems with gritting (and complaints from residents).

Although I was told that routes on the list are being gritted, the grit isn’t being as effective as it could be due to the low temperatures. I was reassured that although the gritting team is working hard there are factors outside of its control. For example if the temperature drops too low for it to work.

I did ask why they weren’t using grit that works at the lower temperatures; the answer given was the other type of grit costs more. An added complication is that weather forecasts aren’t always 100% correct.

The person wanted to make sure I wasn’t “misleading the public”; so hopefully the above explains matters better. I will also be rereading the review from last year and looking into this in more detail.

Interestingly the cold weather seems to have led to more visitors to this blog. I might point out that Colas gave out the wrong information regarding Streetscene as it’s open from 8am (not 9am, which is what Colas stated).

True grit edition (continued)

As gritting is still a problem we’ve both been in touch with Streetscene.

It’s interesting how my wife and I get a different response from Streetscene; but then I suppose there’s a red flag in respect to my name.

We’re doing our best. However I will point out that:-

It was a Labour led Council last year that (if memory serves me right) awarded the contract to Colas. As I did last year I brought up concerns about this contract however the Labour led council denied my Freedom of Information Act requests on grounds of commercial sensitivity. It then turned down a review of this request.

When £40 million is at stake I suppose the public aren’t entitled to know if the gritting is being done properly.

So if you wonder why it’s not done in-house anymore and the roads are icy – blame Labour and its policies of privatisation and subcontracting Wirral Council’s responsibilities.

Until the end of this financial year, Wirral Council is operating under a budget with Labour priorities in it.

Subcontracting services leads to massive problems with communication, monitoring contracts and complaints from the unions about changes to terms and conditions. In this case there are many from residents too.

In many cases, subcontracting is used as a “smokescreen”; to deny the public (and media) information over how their money is spent. It also sets up a convenient scapegoat if things go wrong.

Labour Still Isn't Working Poster

Musical interlude – guess the blank edition

Strangely both I and my wife thought of a certain councillor when we heard this. I’ll leave it to readers to guess which leader and party we immediately both thought of!

I grew so rich that I was sent
By a pocket borough into local government
I always voted at my party’s call
And I never thought of thinking for myself at all

He never thought of thinking for himself at all

I thought so little,
they rewarded me
By making me the leader of the             Party

He thought so little,
they rewarded he
By making him the leader of the           Party

Now, landsmen all, whoever you may be
If you want to rise to the top of the tree
If your soul isn’t fettered to an office stool
Be careful to be guided by this golden rule

Be careful to be guided by this golden rule

Stick close to your desks,

Yes,

And never go to sea
And you all may be leaders of the            Party

Stick close to your desks and never go to sea
And you all may be leaders of the            Party

With thanks to Gilbert and Sullivan for the original lyrics. If you’d like to watch the original it’s on youtube here.

Satellite tracking of gritters

I’ve just received an email from the Cabinet Member and the officers have written to her informing her that gritting had been done using the following log.

18:34:08 Ilchester Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH41 7BP – 0.01 119 8 298
18:35:08 Hoylake Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH41 7BZ – 0.29 275 22 287
18:36:08 Boundary Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH43 7PQ – 0.23 220 19 143
18:37:08 Boundary Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH43 7PF – 0.40 152 22 158
18:38:08 Upper Flaybrick Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH43 7PF – 0.10 056 17 261
18:39:08 Boundary Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH43 7PG – 0.25 315 20 328
18:40:08 Worcester Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside CH43 7QB – 0.26 342 21 033

Yes, the log is great; I’m pleased we have satellite tracking to keep an eye on the gritters this year! However it’s for the wrong route. As mentioned in my previous post, which has a link to the gritting routes, Boundary Road (split into two) is on two gritting routes.

The log is clearly showing gritting route 3 (Green), which wasn’t the one I complained about which was route 5 (Purple). All this would make better sense if I had a map to link to!

Has anybody else had problems like this when reporting roads not gritted (or anything requiring a location) or does this confusion explain how frustrated people were getting with Streetscene last year about it?

P.S. My address is well-known and was in the original email. I realise email responses can be tricky to deal with and people make mistakes however the subject line from the officer involved Phil Miner clearly stated “Fwd: lack of gritting on Boundary Road between Worcester Road and Bidston Village Road”. Perhaps I’m being harsh on people just trying to do a difficult job managing this contract; but it’s frustrating!

Standards and why we need them at Wirral Council

I have had an interesting read of the full document pack relating to the Standards Hearing Panel of the 2nd/22nd November.

I was at the meeting referred to in July and had an unimpeded view and to what went on and heard what was said, although I’m not going to say what happened. Since then (unfortunately) there have been many full council meetings where similar things have happened.

Why it takes 16 months for a complaint (or complaints) in this case about a councillor to go from the complaint being made to a meeting to consider a decision as to what happens next is to beyond me. Surely (especially if a councillor is considering standing down in the next year) this is just giving them a licence to misbehave without consequences?

Needless to say, during this sixteen months (and most complaints seem to take that long), officers’ time, councillors’ time and in some cases when the report isn’t written "in-house" many thousands of pounds is spent.

It seems there are two possible reasons why it is dragged out so long (even after five councillors make a complaint).

Either

a) there is deliberate political “meddling” in the complaints process, whether directly or through officers or

b) processing complaints about councillors is not seen as a priority (or both a) and b))

The new procedure for complaints about councillors (which is to be decided by councillors and independent members of the Standards Committee this week), will hopefully make the system more understandable.

Since the MP expenses scandal, one wonders why local councils such as Wirral haven’t been forced to be more open about the expenses they pay to local councillors? Whereas I realise some may not like the extra scrutiny this would bring when staying at hotels and going on trips abroad at the taxpayer’s expense; as it stands the whole system is open to abuse.

Mind you; as some can’t even get basic arithmetic right on their election expenses forms; one wonders how they manage to fill out their expenses forms.

Two open questions to the readers (please answer in the comments – it’s not multiple choice so you can pick more than one):-

Do elected politicians behave badly because:-

a) it gets them more attention,
b) their colleagues are so they see it as acceptable,
c) they can get away with it and/or
d) they know if they do get caught nothing can be done to stop them doing it again?

Does the media act as a watchdog on our elected representatives?

a) Yes
b) No
c) Sometimes