A council is reviewing how it responded to the recent cold snap – to see if it can be better prepared next time. Like the rest of the country, Stoke-on-Trent was hit by a lengthy spell of sub-zero temperatures at the start of the year which left many of the city’s roads and footpaths like ice rinks.
In some parts of Stoke-on-Trent, such as Weston Coyney, residents complained about empty grit bins and refuse collections being delayed. Now cabinet members on Stoke-on-Trent City Council have agreed to review the authority’s response and consider what improvements, if any, can be made.
Council leader Jane Ashworth has thanked staff for their efforts during the cold snap, and invited them to suggest ideas.
She said: “Because the last week or two has been the first time that we as a relatively new administration have had to deal with a very serious cold snap, we’ve decided that what we need to is sit down and calmly review the successes and improvements that are possible in our response. We’ve probably all seen the video of the binmen struggling to get up roads in Weston Coyney, as well as the huge amount of work that’s gone on, for instance 700 grit bins filled at least once.
“First of all I think we should thank all the staff who have been so heavily involved, working huge amounts of overtime, putting themselves in tricky situations. When you look around other places, we haven’t done that badly. We should also encourage staff to come forward with good ideas on how we can perhaps be better prepared – perhaps our gritting policy is absolutely right, perhaps it could be improved here or there. We’ll fold these comments into a review, just to make sure we’re doing the best we possibly can to prepare and execute responses to extreme cold weather.”
Daytime temperatures in Stoke-on-Trent are expected to stay above freezing for the next week. The council has previously told residents that bins which were missed during the cold snap will be collected as soon as possible.