'Please Grit Our Pavements', Say Angry Residents

1.24.00pm GMT Sat 28th Feb 2009

Lib Dem Councillor Catherine Dean collecting petition signatures on Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet.

Exactly 100 frustrated residents of Stansted signed a petition last Saturday morning calling for village centre pavements to be gritted to make them safe when it snows.

Many people complained at the lack of concern for pedestrians following early February's heavy snowfalls.

The petition was organised by local Lib Dem councillors Alan & Catherine Dean, John Hudson, David Morson, Geoffrey Sell and Peter Wilcock supported by local resident Frances Spalding. They also urged people who signed the grit petition to respond to the government's consultation on the Elsenham eco-town.

Alan Dean commented: "Councils neglected the safety of local people during the recent treacherous conditions. It's not good enough to abandon bin collections for the safety of council employees but then to refuse to grit outside council offices, in council car parks and on pavements, especially in shopping areas.

"There's a risk avoidance culture brought on by lawyers and insurance companies; so the council puts the risk onto the general public rather than providing the services the public deserve and needs to make getting around safer for them. It time to return to putting the public first.

"On Sunday I was talking to Mr Howard Reeve of Elsenham. He is losing four weeks of work after falling and cracking ribs on the pavement in Bishop's Stortford. He is very angry at the lack of thought for pedestrians and thinks that too many council staff hide behind desks instead of ensuring the public's safety."