'Do your bit before complaining about gritting'

A council has defended its winter gritting procedures, after an MP said she was "concerned" about untreated routes and pavements.

Snow from Saturday onwards caused the North Yorkshire coast to grind to a "halt", according to Scarborough and Whitby MP Alison Hume.

Alex Anderson, who owns the Homebird House shop in Scarborough, said he and other business owners had cleared pavements. "The people that were gritting in the town centre didn't come down to our end so if we didn't do anything there would be nothing done," he added.

North Yorkshire Council said it had prioritised the "treatment of both major and local roads, as well as key transport links" and cleared footpaths in busy areas.

Although he had bought one bag of salt, the 41-year-old obtained more from an official spreading it in the town centre.

"It's been like an uphill battle," he said.

He said a man had fallen on a "deadly, slippy bend" near the shop over the weekend, and had to be assisted by police.

Anderson said he was aware of "a lot" of complaints on social media about gritting and pavement clearance, but thought more people should help out.

"Everyone expects someone else is going to do something for them but I'm not that way," he added.

"I just get on with it."

He suggested a bucket of grit could be "dumped in each one of the main areas that are going to be a problem" so people could join the effort.

An apparent shortage of grit bins was also highlighted by Hume, as well as the "catastrophic" impact on the local economy.

She said: "Businesses have told me that they've had cancellations because customers are unable to walk on the pavement to the premises.

"A garage has had to cancel all their staff because no one can get their cars in, another business told me that on Saturday 11 out of 14 bookings, probably another five to six walk-ins, they'd missed.

"Staff still have to be paid, of course, but there's no money coming in the the front."

Hume said she had herself had a hospital appointment cancelled on Monday, because staff could not access the site.

"There is a cost to gritting. But the thing I'm going to be asking the council is, 'what is the cost of not gritting in terms of the suffering for people and businesses?'"

North Yorkshire Council said periods of freezing temperatures presented "challenges" to residents and the authority.

Despite prioritising gritting on major and local roads, corporate director for environment Karl Battersby said: "Heavy snow showers, combined with drifting snow on major A-roads have required repeated treatments and this has slowed progress on some other routes.

"While it is very cold, it must be stressed that these temperatures are not exceptional, and we are well prepared and able to respond where the need arises.

"For example, once we were made aware of concerns in Scarborough town centre and the old town, we arranged for additional crews to help with the clearing of footpaths."

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