Grit bins removed

[barleycorn 10]

Had ours on a residential street, close to a local primary school and surrounded by steep hills removed a few weeks ago, men who were removing it said it was been reassigned to Agden Dam .........

According to the link up thread:

We don't plan to increase the total number of grit bins so requests will only receive a bin if future grit bin usage reviews identify underused bins elsewhere which can be relocated.

Quite what the criteria are for designating a bin as underused is anyone's guess. If anyone is in anyway concerned that there local grit bin may be removed then I suggest they use it at the merest suggestion of cold weather and request refills immediately.

 

jb

[Cyclone 10]

Today amey came and took our grit bin , I called to find out why, after 40 minutes on the phone I found out they had removed 200 from roads that did not meet two of their criterias. have requested for the grit bin back but was advised can only put in for request for next year and will still have to meet two of their criterias. A meeting had been held this morning and grit bins are being removed. the criteria points are on sheffield city councils web site. myself and my neighbours think this is unbelievable, has anyone else had their grit bins removed or contact with the council regarding this?

 

Did your bin meet NON of the criteria?

 

The grit bins that remain have met one of the criteria below.

 

On a road that has a drainage problem

On a road that has a steep gradient of 1 in 10 (10%)

On a bad bend that has a radius of less than 50 metres

On a junction

On a road that has a main entrance to sheltered housing

On a road that has a main entrance to a school

In an isolated area

Near traffic signals (within 20m)

Near a roundabout (within 20m)

[Tommo68 10]

Has anyone noticed if the grit bins are also being removed from areas where the houses are mostly occupied by council (housing association) tennants. What used to be called council estates. Where the voters are predominently labour supporters?

 

I only ask out idle curiosity.

.

.

[Jim117 72]

No it doesn't meet the criteria and yes it is on a council estate. I live on the same road as the OP. I'm absolutely furious about this pennypinching idiocy. For the last 9 years we've cleared the entire length of this street every snowfall. We clear it kerb to kerb, then clear the steps,paths and pavements in front of the older folks houses. Then we grit the lot. The road is a cul de sac with an incline to enter it so unless we clear the full length nobody gets in or out. Being in one of the highest points of the city the road freezes solid after snow removal unless treated. Ameys own website advises that clearing snow is ok unless it causes the surface to be even more slippy. So if anyone from Amey is reading this, heads up. The residents of this street have effectively been doing your job for free for the last decade. We don't give a damn about your criteria, if you'd bothered to properly survey the area and talk to residents instead of making arbitrary rules up in a cosy office you'd know how vital this bin is. If you check your records you'll find out it's us who phones you when the bin needs refilling so you don't even have send someone out to check it yourselves for gods sake! We want our bin back, not after some "review", now.

[the_bloke 17]

No it doesn't meet the criteria and yes it is on a council estate. I live on the same road as the OP. I'm absolutely furious about this pennypinching idiocy. For the last 9 years we've cleared the entire length of this street every snowfall. We clear it kerb to kerb, then clear the steps,paths and pavements in front of the older folks houses. Then we grit the lot. The road is a cul de sac with an incline to enter it so unless we clear the full length nobody gets in or out. Being in one of the highest points of the city the road freezes solid after snow removal unless treated. Ameys own website advises that clearing snow is ok unless it causes the surface to be even more slippy. So if anyone from Amey is reading this, heads up. The residents of this street have effectively been doing your job for free for the last decade. We don't give a damn about your criteria, if you'd bothered to properly survey the area and talk to residents instead of making arbitrary rules up in a cosy office you'd know how vital this bin is. If you check your records you'll find out it's us who phones you when the bin needs refilling so you don't even have send someone out to check it yourselves for gods sake! We want our bin back, not after some "review", now.

 

I hate to say it, but in these cost cutting times I'd rather see council grit being put to use on important roads, not residential dead end streets.

 

My nearest bin is a decent walk away, and it's there to grit the hill off the estate, one of only two roads out of the estate for hundreds of houses. It hasn't been taken away, as this road has a greater importance than lesser roads like the cul de sacs you and I live on.

 

I'm sure you and your neighbours can do what the rest of us without bins on the doorstep have always done; buy our own grit in advance and keep a few bags of it in the corner of the garage to be used when needed.

[Cyclone 10]

The rules look quite reasonable to me...

[Doom 10]

I guess it depends on whether the cost saving proves counter-productive in the long term.

 

If removing a grit bin results in lost working hours and accidents, then the overall cost of lost production and/or emergency services may well substantially exceed the saving on a grit bin.

 

If removing a grit bin just means a little inconvenience to the locals, then it's probably worthwhile.

 

Would it be possible to get sponsors for grit bins, like we have sponsors for some of the signs coming into Sheffield?

 

Regards

 

Doom

[Strix 11]

No it doesn't meet the criteria and yes it is on a council estate. I live on the same road as the OP. I'm absolutely furious about this pennypinching idiocy. For the last 9 years we've cleared the entire length of this street every snowfall. We clear it kerb to kerb, then clear the steps,paths and pavements in front of the older folks houses. Then we grit the lot. The road is a cul de sac with an incline to enter it so unless we clear the full length nobody gets in or out. Being in one of the highest points of the city the road freezes solid after snow removal unless treated. Ameys own website advises that clearing snow is ok unless it causes the surface to be even more slippy. So if anyone from Amey is reading this, heads up. The residents of this street have effectively been doing your job for free for the last decade. We don't give a damn about your criteria, if you'd bothered to properly survey the area and talk to residents instead of making arbitrary rules up in a cosy office you'd know how vital this bin is. If you check your records you'll find out it's us who phones you when the bin needs refilling so you don't even have send someone out to check it yourselves for gods sake! We want our bin back, not after some "review", now.

 

Do you have a doctor/nurse/other critical role worker living on your street? If so, ask the council how the heck they are supposed to get to work, then ring the Star and Calendar

[Doom 10]

No it doesn't meet the criteria and yes it is on a council estate. I live on the same road as the OP. I'm absolutely furious about this pennypinching idiocy. For the last 9 years we've cleared the entire length of this street every snowfall. We clear it kerb to kerb, then clear the steps,paths and pavements in front of the older folks houses. Then we grit the lot. The road is a cul de sac with an incline to enter it so unless we clear the full length nobody gets in or out. Being in one of the highest points of the city the road freezes solid after snow removal unless treated. Ameys own website advises that clearing snow is ok unless it causes the surface to be even more slippy. So if anyone from Amey is reading this, heads up. The residents of this street have effectively been doing your job for free for the last decade. We don't give a damn about your criteria, if you'd bothered to properly survey the area and talk to residents instead of making arbitrary rules up in a cosy office you'd know how vital this bin is. If you check your records you'll find out it's us who phones you when the bin needs refilling so you don't even have send someone out to check it yourselves for gods sake! We want our bin back, not after some "review", now.

 

I have to say I feel for you.

 

I regularly get out with my spade and clear the steeper bits of our estate of snow. Afterwards I like to throw a bit of grit down to stop the cleared surface from freezing.

 

If people are willing to help themselves, then it would be nice if the Council would provide them with the tools to finish the job off properly.

 

Regards

 

Doom

[Tommo68 10]

................

 

I'm sure you and your neighbours can do what the rest of us without bins on the doorstep have always done; buy our own grit in advance and keep a few bags of it in the corner of the garage to be used when needed.

 

Yes and we could all buy long ladders so we can change the street light bulbs when they need doing.

 

Many of us live within a few miles of council tip or recycling centre and now we all have wheelie bins we could take our own rubbish away.

 

Perhaps people who are out for a stroll in graves park could be persuaded to carry a bag of dog crap to the incinerator.

 

If you are going out and will be leaving the house for any length of time, carry a shovel, then you won't be concerned about the lack of public toilets.

 

We already have volunteers running the libraries.

 

If we did away with admin we could do away with the council too as they do not appear to want to do anything that people want them to do.

Like keeping the roads safe and the buses running in winter.

 

We could do away with the expensive issuing and collecting of parking fines, let anyone park where and when they want, then when people realise there are no parking places in town and buses can't get through they won't go there which will also save money on street sweeping as the town centre will die off.

 

 

That is a lot of people our council could lay off saving even more money. Then they could put the unemployed to work, doing other things and providing other services that the council once did.

.

.

[detheridge02 10]

Just another round of cost cutting, after the bin collections cut in half, very little road and pavement sweeping. Cuts in the Police and other Emergency services. It makes you wonder where the council tax goes

[the_bloke 17]

... we could do away with the council too as they do not appear to want to do anything that people want them to do.

Like keeping the roads safe and the buses running in winter.

 

I've ignored the rant, in an effort to keep on track. It's clear that this is a cost cutting exercise, so the provision of grit and bins is being reduced, which leads to a criteria to determine the bins to keep and those to either move or remove entirely.

 

In the case of Jim117, he lives on a cul de sac and is adamant his bin is a priority. I live on a cul de sac, I have no bin. I also have elderly neighbours and hills like he does, I grit the street and clear the snow in winter, so why should his road have a bin and mine not? Since when does helping your neighbours and making the street safe in winter have to be council funded?