Cheshire East Council has confirmed the changes which will be made to the local gritting routes next winter following a review.
The new routes have been determined according to assessment criteria, with each road scored and ranked accordingly, following various consultations with council members, area highway group chairs, schools, cycling groups, town and parish councils and emergency services.
As a result the following roads in Wilmslow and Handforth will no longer be gritted:
- Barlow Road
- Browns Lane
- Burleyhurst Lane
- Cranford Road
- Egerton Road
- Grove Avenue
- Heyes Lane
- Hough Lane
- Lacey Green
- Mobberley Road
- Pinewood Road
- Trafford Road
- Twinnies Road
- Spath Lane, Handforth
Meanwhile five roads in Alderley Edge have been removed from the winter treatment schedule.
Additionally the following local roads have been added:
- Gorsey Road
- Green Lane
- Moss Road, Styal
- Altrincham Road, Styal
- Earl Road, Handforth
- Epsom Avenue, Handforth
- Lower Meadow Road, Handforth
- Coppice Way, Handforth
A total of 1,043km out of 2,700km (38 per cent) of the highway network has been identified as requiring routine winter treatment.
Details of the revised gritting routes can be found on the council's website.
Click here to view a map of the local roads which will be gritted.
Comments
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I understand your comment and agree at a basic level. However, would that include roads such as Carrwood Road in Pownhall Park, part of which is not an adopted highway? This part is used to gain access to Pownhall School and is privately owned by the school and some, but not all of the residents of Carrwood Road. Are you happy for your council tax to be spent on gritting a privately owned road?
As far as I understand it, roads used to gain access to secondary schools will be gritted, but roads used to gain access to primary schools will not be unless there are additional reasons (ie on a public bus route or some other criteria).
It may surprise you to learn that not all roads used to gain access to primary schools were on the previous gritting route. For example, Ashdene Road, Thorsway, Upcast Lane in Wilmslow, Kingston Road Handforth, Church Lane and Eaton Drive Alderley Edge are all roads used to gain access to four different primary schools and were not on the gritting route before, and still won’t be.
I believe that there are two reasons behind this way of thinking.
The first is the importance of being able to gain access to school. It’s considered that time lost at secondary school is more of a hinderance to a child’s education than time lost at primary school. The second is that most (but not all) primary aged school children are usually escorted to school by a “responsible adult”. However, most secondary school children are not. It is this age group that are deemed to be more at risk due to the lack of a responsible adult. In English law, you are not deemed to be an adult until you are 18 years old and even them you are not necessarily deemed to be a “responsible” one.
We are told that all roads have been risk assessed and scored. To be on the gritting route the road must have achieved a score of 100 or more. The definition of a risk assessment is a systematic process of identifying hazards and evaluating any associated risks, then implementing reasonable control measures to remove or reduce them.
Note the word “reasonable”!