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Have you and your friend never noticed that the council don’t grit footpaths? Why do you expect it to change now? As has been mentioned, councils have much less money and many more significant demands on the money they have (like for social services ). How can you reasonably expect them to do more and more with less and less money?

I don’t think anything I posted can be regarded as “snide”. In the post 2 hours ago, there’s a comment about how you don’t take on board advice and information offered by myself and others. You don’t want to follow the advice, but seem annoyed that you aren’t getting anywhere with doing things “your” way, so its a fair comment in my view. Nothing “snide” about it in my opinion.

I don't think its a case of not being interested. I’ve been around since the 1960’s and I don’t remember a time when the council routinely gritted footpaths everywhere, so why do you seem to think they should now? No council anywhere does that so why should here be any different? Of course everything is down to money. There is never enough to give everyone everything they might want, so hard decisions have to be made. That situation has been worsened considerably in recent decades where the central government funding to councils has been severely cut and the amount they can raise by council tax increases has also been limited. These cuts have very real impacts. Not paying farmers to clear minor roads may be one such impact.

Implying you are Ben Miskell I’d imagine. Usual snide digs from that poster.

Yeah, it’s real easy to sit on the sidelines making snide digs at people offering good advice and information.

The grit bins were there on my road before I moved in. Nothing to do with me living there. But, when one was moved detrimentally and requests to put it back didn’t result in any action, a formal complaint to the council got it put back fairly quickly. You’ve been given advice on what to do to address the failure of the councillors and the officer to respond to your requests. I’d suggest you follow it. The formal complaint process means that a fresh pair of eyes looks into your issue and responds to you within a set timescale. The result may or may not please you, but at least you can be assured that you’re not being ignored. If people giving you good advice is “doing your head in”, there’s little wonder that you are getting frustrated and getting nowhere.

Do you not understand that they need to keep gritting the main roads to stop them icing up? Where do you think they are going to get additional staff to grit the rest of the roads / pavements? All the staff they can muster are out gritting anyway. I’ve seen some out gritting pavements, but there is no way that they can do all of them. It has always been said that the council here grits a higher percentage of its road network and has more grit bins than any other authority. So, you already get the best service in the country. It does get rather repetitive every time it snows listening to the moans about why the side roads and pavements aren’t gritted. The answer is the same as it always has been. No council grits all its roads and pavements. They never have and they are not expected to. I live on a quite steep road. There are grit bins at the top and bottom. By lunchtime on the first day of the snow, the residents had completely cleared the road (not just wheel tracks, all of it) and it’s been clear and gritted (by the residents) ever since. Thats what they always do. There are elderly people here, if they can’t contribute, someone else does it and clears their path / drive if they want it doing. If you want your side roads and pavements cleared, take some responsibility and get it done yourselves.

The government set the standards for cycle lane provision the government and councils have set themselves very demanding carbon reduction targets. They wont be achieved unless they can persuade huge numbers of motorists to get out of their cars and walk and cycle. Thats why the government are funding these cycle facilities.

You haven’t explained this very well. Was the cyclist on the crossing? How do you nearly run someone over when you are stationary? Most cyclists are also drivers and so will have read the Highway Code. Many also have insurance. There are also plenty of drivers who don’t have insurance and don’t appear to have read the Highway Code either.

So are people who take the trouble to help others and point them towards information and processes that might assist them all “Apologists”? Why do you need to call people names? Why can’t we just have an informed discussion and have our own opinions and be civil? Some people have unrealistic expectations, without actually understanding what councillors and officers can actually do, or how council services work. As I and others have said, there have been massive budget cuts over a sustained period and councils just cannot provide the same services as they used to and prioritisation has to take place. Social services and statutory responsibilities naturally get prioritised. Ordinary Councillors are not normally involved in the day to day running of council services. All they can do is make, or pass on requests. Some senior councillors or committees of them have responsibilities for certain areas of service and do get more actively involved. It’s the officers who run things on a day today basis. There are area committees of councillors who have limited amounts of funding to spend in their areas, I’ve provided a link to more info on these. Other than that, ordinary councillors don’t tell officers what to do or what to spend the money on. That’s decided at higher level (but is approved by councillors when they set budgets and policies). I’ve explained what happens when you complain to a councillor or request a service via them. The councillors have helpers, who generally deal with incoming correspondence, they filter what comes in and try to direct it to the right council service. There, it gets allocated to individual officers or teams, who investigate and respond to the councillor (or their helpers), who then sends the response back to the requestor. Going direct to the officers cuts out the “middle people” and means you generally get a quicker response. As I and others have explained, there’s a formal complaints process which people can use when they are dissatisfied with the service they received. If they aren’t happy with the outcome, they can refer it to the local government ombudsman. It’s unfortunate if people have been promised something that the person who promises it (councillor or officer) can’t deliver. People sometimes make mistakes and promise things they shouldn’t. However, sometimes the people who are requesting things will say or believe that things have been promised when they actually haven’t. I’ve seen all of those plenty of times. I don’t know what was said or promised or not in this case as I wasn’t there. The least that people should get is a full and proper explanation and an apology if mistakes have been made.

What exactly is it you get from sniping at people who are giving good advice?

I don’t know whether it’s unusual or not for councillors to do that. I’ve worked with quite a few in different areas over the years. Most seem committed to helping their constituents as much as possible and freely give their time when they can. There are pots of money available in all council Wards to support local groups and organisations for events like yours and other good causes.

Who exactly is “the bloke in charge of highways”? There are several different people who are in charge of different aspects of highways. It does not sound like you made a formal complaint. I’d suggest that you should. It might give you some closure to the matter, as it clearly bothers you. Senior people rely on receiving accurate briefings from the folk who report to them. They don’t always get the right information. People are human, they get it wrong sometimes. If that happens, they should say so, apologise and make it right. You are mistaking my explaining how things work for defending people. They are different. Would you rather this just be a forum for moaning about the council, or would you rather have someone on here who can provide information on how things work and why its like that?

The MP isn’t part of the council so can’t speak for them. They can only raise issues with the council just like you can. All you have said is just local councillors doing what you might expect them to as local politicians. When they get general complaints or requests about council services, all they do is get one of their staff to pass the complaint / request to wherever they think is relevant in the council. It then gets passed to officers to deal with / consider and they then reply to the councillor who passes to on to the complainant / requestor. In my view it’s quicker to go straight to the council department who deal with the issue at hand.

Speaking to your councillors isn’t over a cuppa isn’t making a formal complaint. Nothing you say is recorded and there are no set timescales for actions. Speaking to a councillor just puts another step in the process. Councillors are not generally involved in the day to day operations of the council. In my opinion you are better off raising the issue with the officers who actually deal with the problem. Raising a formal complaint puts the matter into a process which has defined timescales. Dealing with complaints within the set timescales is a key performance indicator for council services, so senior officers are keen to see them dealt with on time. You get a formal response and if you are dissatisfied with it you can take the matter to the local government ombudsman (which they tell you how to do).