Councillor grits and bears it to make icy pavements safe

Council in action: Cllr Jon Rogers out in Clifton last night spreading grit on icy pavements

A cabinet member on Bristol City Council took the problem of icy pavements into his own hands on Thursday night when he joined a local blogger to spread grit in Clifton.

Cllr Jon Rogers, executive member for Transport and Sustainability, challenged Chris Hutt to join him on Queen’s Road, after the Green Bristol Blogger had complained about the danger being faced by pedestrians in the city centre.

Following an exchange on social networking site Twitter, the pair met at 9pm in an attempt to make the street safe. Mr Hutt said on his blog he had “witnessed dozens of slips, half a dozen falls and one suspected broken bone requiring an ambulance”.

Writing about the experience, Mr Hutt said: “Passers-by on Queen’s Road, Clifton, were entertained by the sight of two scruffy middle-aged men scrabbling around grit bins like tramps scavenging dog ends.

“We quickly emptied one of the two local grit bins but the grit in the other was rock solid and unusable. Still we managed to deal with the worst sections of the footway and it was gratifying to see that people immediately started to follow our line of grit over the ice. One even said thank you!”

Cllr Rogers said the evening had been “fun”, but also suggested that – on a personal level – that people who were worried about the frozen pavements should walk on gritted roads instead.

“On a personal note (not council policy!) I know it is a bit anarchic, but can I suggest that where pavements are slippery and dangerous, but the roads are gritted and clear that people walk carefully along the gritted edge of the road towards oncoming traffic, so they can move onto the slush at the side if necessary.”

Meanwhile, Bristol continues to struggle with the icy weather, after temperatures dropped to -8°C on Thursday night.

First Bus services in the city are slowly returning to normal – although there are still a number of services disrupted.

Latest service disruptions:

• Service 36 – Due to Gas Leak road closures the services is running as follows: via: St Phillips Causeway, Sandy Park Road, Wick Road, then normal route. (Not serving Barton Hill or St Anne’s) A shuttle service operating between Somerfield roundabout St Anne’s and Eagle Road.
• Service 5 – Normal route except not serving Small Lane
• Service 9 – Normal route except not serving Harley Place, Clifton Christchurch stop.
• Service 20 – Normal route except not operating via Clare Avenue, Bishopston.
• Service 40 – Normal route except not using Julian Road & Druid Hill. Operating via Parry’s Lane
• Service 41 – Normal route but not operating via Millers Drive
• Service 48 – Normal route but not operating via Beaufort Road.
• Service 70 – Normal route inbound; but outbound operating via City Road & Ashley Hill.
• Service 91 – Normal route but not operating via Novers Lane
• Service 310 – Main roads only
• Service 327 – Not able to serve Winterbourne Estate, buses are using main roads only
• Service 354 – Normal service to Nailsea terminating at bottom of Link Road
• Service X7 – Normal route terminating at Sixways, Clevedon
• Service X27 – Normal route but currently unable to serve Iron Acton

Meanwhile, rail services between Bath and Bristol have reopened following the explosion at an industrial estate near Temple Meads station yesterday, in which three people were injured.

A statement on the First Great Western (FGW) website said that most services on the network were operating normally, but an amended timetable is in operation on some routes. Passengers are being asked to access the FGW website for more information before they travel.

Bristol International Airport is still warning of delays to flights, with passengers urged to check with their airline before setting out for the airport.

The sub-zero temperatures are expected to continue, with fresh snowfall predicted on Sunday for the West Country.