Council chiefs have rejected requests from North Yorkshire residents to make roads in their communities a high priority for winter gritting.
North Yorkshire Council declined 20 out of 21 applications for amendments to its winter maintenance schedule made by individual residents, local councillors, a school, a business and a neighbouring authority.
The majority of the requests asked the council to upgrade local roads from priority three, which are only treated if freezing conditions persist for more than 72 hours.
The requests were rejected because the current level of treatment was in line with the council’s policy and was consistent with the approach elsewhere in the county.
Among the applications to be turned was a request from Wavell Community Primary School Catterick Garrison, which wanted the road gritted outside the school after being forced to close for several days in January due to snow and ice.
Officers pointed out that the school was about 100m from a priority one road, meaning staff could reach the general area by car in bad weather.
The council said that although it would not upgrade the road, it would consider specific requests from the school for treatment of the road in the future.
A resident of Oldstead, near Thirsk, requested that the road between their village and Kilburn be treated because it became “treacherous” during cold weather.
An application to treat Westfields in Richmond was also turned down.
A petition from 23 residents of Heyshaw, between Harrogate and Pateley Bridge, was handed to the council asking for roads in and out of the
village to be added to a gritting route as the community became isolated during icy and snowy conditions.
Another application which was rejected was a request by Drax Power Station to grit the material handling entrance at the plant.
While the council acknowledged that salting an additional 433m to meet the request was easily achievable, it could set a precedent for other similar appeals, which may then have a “significant cumulative impact across the county”.
The only request to be accepted was one made by Westmorland and Furness Council which asked the council to treat one of its roads at Dent Head viaduct which it was unable to access due to a landslip.
The council agreed to employ a farm contractor to help, but charge the costs back to the neighbouring authority.
The requests were considered on Friday (22nd August) by the council’s corporate director of environment Karl Battersby and the executive member for highways and transportation, Councillor Martin Taylor.
Cllr Taylor said North Yorkshire stretched nearly 120 miles from west to east and had almost 6,000 miles of roads, which made winter road treatment “extremely challenging”.
He added:
“It is always difficult to turn down a request, but each one is considered at length given the challenging financial constraints North Yorkshire Council is facing."
The rejected requests were:
- Road outside Wavell Community Primary School, Catterick Garrison
- Westfields in Richmond
- West End in Preston-under-Scar
- Road between A19 and Over Silton
- Ingleby Bank at Ingleby Greenhow
- Road between Kilburn and Oldstead
- Watlass Lane, Thornton Watlass
- Roads in Speeton, near Filey
- Road to Ravenscar
- Raikeswood Drive, Skipton
- Moss End Lane, Cowling
- Heyshaw Village and Dike Lane
- Residential roads in Burton Leonard
- Spring Lane, Pannal
- Careless House Lane near Fountains Abbey
- Moor Lane, Aldfield
- Bishop Way, Bishop Garth and Bishop Close, Pateley Bridge
- Laverton village
- Park Road, Asenby
- Material handling entrance at Drax Power Station
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