Where are the gritters for Balham?
By aloquifique | Wednesday, December 01, 2010, 21:47
Many Balhamites are tonight complaining that Balham streets are lethal and the gritters nowhere to be seen. Here are some of your comments below:
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Brrr. Balham in the snow by @DoktorWatson
@cwiss 'Sistovia road? More like slipova road. Come of Balham gritters."
@hsbarnes 'GRIT BALHAM
@SophieLeBrozec 'Balham is officially an ice rink!'
@Emma_Hughes 'Now I know why Wandsworth has the cheapest council tax in the country. They clearly have no budget set aside for grit.'
Those on the Lambeth side of the town, seem much happier with the gritting over there.
@Karaadora 'it's vaguely hilarious that you can tell where the border in Balham between Lambeth and Wandsworth is when it snows. Hint, Lambeth has grit.'
Well, Wandsworth does have a winter maintenance plan for 2010/11 and for Balham, the priority gritting areas are Bedford Hill, Balham Station Road, Bellevue Road and Nightingale Lane. Both Balham High Road and Balham Hill are part of the network to be gritted by Transport for London under the Pan London Resilience Plan, which kicks in when salt supplies are very low. Other than that - you're on your own. It seems that pathways will only be cleared around the library, health clinic, all schools and 1 station entrance. As far as I can make out, Balham doesn't have a Grit Bin location either.
Well, all's not lost. Streatham Ice Arena have a shop inside the foyer which sell a full range of skating boots.
Comments
Here's the full text of sadiq's blog post, dated today at 19:18:
Many residents have been in touch with me about the icey pavements and roads in the constituency (which includes Tooting and parts of Wandsworth Common, Balham and Furzedown) and the shortage of salt bins provided for the use of residents.
I have been in touch with Wandsworth Council to raise these concerns, who have admitted that Tooting has been the area of the borough that has been worst affected by the snow.
Following my representations to the council the schedule of gritting has been changed to more effectively tackle the problem in Tooting. As of tonight all roads in Tooting will have been gritted 3 times, and tomorrow all the front-line gritters in Wandsworth will be focused on Tooting's roads.
I have also raised concerns about the lack of salt bins provided for residents to clear their pathways and pavements, and have received confirmation that the provision of salt bins will be re-assessed, and that more bins will be purchased to ensure that the areas that need it most are provided for in the future.
By aloquifique at 20:03 on 03/12/10
ReportSadiq Khan posted on Twiter ' Wandsworth Council have changed their gritting schedule to focus on Tooting tomorrow - all front-line gritters will be gritting local roads'. No joy there for Balham residents then ....
By aloquifique at 19:42 on 03/12/10
ReportI live in Hyde Farm too and, while Wandsworth parts of Balham may mostly have it just as badit's like Doktor Watson says - all pavements and most roads are lethal. I've heard that as an outlying area it's way down on Lambeth's priorities after Brixton and Streatham.
It's always the same - my road is Haverhill and it's been even worse than this in the past.
By Ogrizovic at 17:58 on 03/12/10
ReportAll joking aside, the roads and pavements around the Hyde Farm Estate are thick with ice. Literally impassable and dangerous for the elderly/infirm. Ironically it got better after the heavy snow last night as it acted as grip! This of course will deteriorate over the next few days as the snow gets trodden down. Let's get the CSOs to support the community with a bit of high-vis salt-shovelling!
By DoktorWatson at 22:42 on 02/12/10
Reporthttp://tinyurl.com/2ff3naf
By ianfreeman at 10:30 on 02/12/10
Report