Winter road gritting to be reduced? Have your say!

South Glos Council is consulting about which roads should be salted and gritted during icy weather - it's yet another "saving" they have identified to help cope with the reduction in grant funding received from central government.

They are proposing to reduce their fleet from 11 gritters to 9, and take 30 km of roads off the list that are salted when freezing conditions seem likely.

In our area Claypit Hill, part of Dodington Road, Gibbs Lane and Sodbury Lane would no longer be gritted.

Other nearby roads include Park lane and Perrinpit Road (Frampton Cotterell), Tormarton Road / Shire Hill / part of Marshfield Road and Ashwicke Road / St Martins Lane (Marshfield and Tormarton) and Old Down Road (Badminton)

The consultation is open until 18 June. There will be a drop-in sessions with StreetCare staff in the meeting room at Yate Outdoor Sports Complex, Broad Lane, Yate, Bristol, BS37 7LB, from 15:00 to 17:00 on Wednesday 2nd May.

You can read more and have your say on the consultation here

After the snow - reporting potholes

A huge thank you to the emergency services, NHS staff, gritter teams and other council staff and everyone else who worked hard to keep the rest of us safe during the snowy and icy weather.

Unfortunately severe cold weather often creates more potholes on our roads. If you spot one you think could be dangerous, you can report it online.

Severe weather, school closures, waste and recycling changes etc

With snow due for the rest of today and Friday, you can find out the latest information on local services and get other cold weather advice on the South Glos Council website. This includes links to school closures.

Rubbish, waste and recycling

South Glos say: "Waste and recycling collections will not take place on Friday 2 March due to snow and ice. Please return your bins and containers to your property until your next normal collection. For recycling next collection is Friday 9 March, please present any extra recycling. Black bin waste and garden bins will be collected Friday 16 March. Up to two bags of non recyclable waste left next to your black bin will also be collected on Friday 16 March. All four Sort It Centres will also be closed from 2pm Thursday 1 March until 8.30am Sunday 4 March"


Libraries

All libraries will be closing at 5pm on Thursday 1 March.

Individual library opening times are available online and may be subject to change during periods of severe weather. You can also check for any latest updates from the libraries homepage.

Free electric blanket testing on Friday at Yate Library

There will be FREE electric blanket testing this Friday (25th January) at Yate Library. Do you know some elderly people who might benefit? Or maybe you work with elderly people and could pass the word around?

Free testing and free blanket if their blanket fails - ring Fiona O'Driscoll on 01454 863632 to book. There are plenty of spaces available at the moment.

SORT IT! Centres open again today

South Glos Council say that as we didn’t get any more snow yesterday all four SORT IT!* Centres are OPEN today. 

Latest SORT IT! updates are posted here.

Snow and missed recycling collections

South Glos Council has announced: 

"Due to the snow and icy conditions on Friday 18 January, there were no household collections of waste or recycling in South Gloucestershire. Residents are asked to take their containers back onto their property and present them on their next scheduled collection day. For food waste this is the following week and for other materials the following fortnight. Reasonable amounts of side waste (waste that won't fit in the bin/box) will be collected"

Meanwhile the Sort-It Centres are closed today (Saturday 19 January) and decisions on opening will be taken on a daily basis.

Nibley Lane closed 6.30pm Sat 4 Feb, accident on M4, Yate local roads treacherous

We've just seen that the police have closed Nibley Lane between Westerleigh Rd and Badminton Rd. Don't know why - accident or ice?

The police website is showing an accident a few minutes ago on the M4 westbound between Tormarton and Hambrook, but from the map location it's near the Tormarton junction. (Update 6.55pm - police say accident now cleared)

And from our own experience the local roads in Yate are very treacherous. Yate is a LOT colder than the Bristol fringe - the temperature fell 5 deg C in the first mile coming away from Emerson's Green.

Nibley Lane closed

Nibley Lane has been closed both ways except for access between Westerleigh Rd and Badminton Rd due to ice.

Snow latest

South Glos have a severe weather page where you can find out the latest on Council services during the current snowy weather. Tonight, we've been told that:

Roads 

All roads are currently open and South Glos Council will continue to work around the clock to keep main roads open and routes into all communities.

 

Waste Collections

Most collections have been completed despite the slippery conditions and there will be an extra vehicle out tomorrow to help catch up with the properties that haven't had their food waste collected today. Providing the situation doesn't detoriorate further, they hope to be back on track by the end of tomorrow. SITA say:

If the bad weather has prevented us from collecting your waste and/or recycling please take your materials back in and present them on the next scheduled collection day. Should the bad weather continue beyond week commencing 27^th December we will review this arrangement. To check the latest arrangements over the Christmas and New Year period please check the Council website www.southglos.gov.uk or listen out on local radio for any further updates.

Day Care Centres

Currently only Downend and Chipping Sodbury Day Care centres have closed. Other arrangements are being put in place to give people appropriate support.

Libraries

Libraries closed at 4pm today but are scheduled to resume normal services tomorrow unless there are further weather problems.

You can find out more about helping you and your family cope with severe weather on the South Glos website. If you know of any vulnerable people who may need extra help in these conditions, for example because their heating has broken down, let the Council or your local Councillor know.

Yate Sports Centre - how about clearing some snow?

It was quite noticeable today that Yate Shopping Centre had cleared paths, and South Glos had cleared footways to the Library and the One Stop Shop building.

But there was no route cleared to the Sports Centre from the shops. Obviously it takes manpower, but you would think they could come to an arrangement with somebody to clear a safe route to their entrance.

Update 20th Dec - Pathways have now been cleared to the Sports Centre. Well done!

Don't be put off clearing snow and ice

Last winter there were reports in the media that people were put off clearing snow and ice for fear of being sued if someone later fell. The Government has tried to reassure the public - you can find their advice online.

Snow information

With the possibility of more snow on the way, now would be a good time to bookmark South Glos Council's snow page, which gives up to date information about any services affected by the weather.

Latest on bin collections

As blogged here, SITA went back to using the standard collection calendar on Monday 25th January and as of Saturday 6th they have now completed a full two week cycle on black bins, green bins and green boxes. Because some householders may not have placed their bin out on the timetabled day, due to all the disruptions, SITA crews will continue to collect side waste for the next two week cycle.

The Council is aiming to learn from this experience and has reviewed its plans for coping with difficult situations such as the one faced in January. In future, they hope to keep residents better informed during disruptions.

Important news on bin collections

From Monday 25 January ALL collections (including black and green wheeled bins and green box recycling) will revert to the normal published days.

If all the confusion caused by Christmas and the bad weather has left you wondering which week you're on, you can check your collection dates online. Where collections have been delayed, SITA will collect reasonable amounts of side waste.

For this week (18 January - 22 January), green bin collections are still suspended and SITA is running approximately one week late on black bin and recycling collections. The advice for this week is still to put your containers out as per the holiday calendar and SITA will get to them as soon as they can.

Snow safety - safe igloo and snowmen!

A "safe snow" theme seems to be emerging today:

Beware of the building site - this igloo warns "Unauthorised entry to this site is strictly prohibited... Safety helmets must be worn"

And these safety-conscious young ladies have a snowman first-aider with his flourescent jacket. This clever group of snowmen always has two or three faces looking at you, whichever direction you approach it from.

Snow News 7 - South Glos website running normally again

The South Glos website is now running normally again, with the snow information all linked from the Severe Weather page.

Snow News 6 - South Glos website service reduced

Due to very heavy demand access to the South Glos website has been reduced, so some of our previous links don't work.

Schools closures are now on the main South Glos web page

Snow 2.0 - websites for the technically inclined

Yes, it just hit us again. We thought geekier readers might like these links:

Rain and snow precipitation radar map (enter town or postcode in left hand column to centre map)

Twitter map updated from #uksnow tweets 

Up to 1.7m pensioners will miss out on Cold Weather Payments - Steve Webb

Up to 1.7m pensioners will miss out on Cold Weather Payments triggered by the recent weather, according to analysis of Government figures by the Liberal Democrats.

Cold Weather Payments of £25 a week are paid to people on low incomes who receive a qualifying benefit, such as Pension Credit, which goes unclaimed by as many as 1.7m pensioners.

Commenting on the Liberal Democrats website, Liberal Democrat Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, Steve Webb said:

“It is a scandal that pensioners on the breadline are missing out on these payments, worth an estimated £42.5m.

“Fuel prices are at an all time high, making Cold Weather Payments all the more important to people already struggling on a poverty pension.

“Labour has failed pensioners by creating a complicated system that makes it difficult for them to get the help they desperately need.

“The Government should be making every effort to identify pensioners who are missing out and get them this extra cash.”

Thin ice warning

Children and young people have been seen walking on the ice at Kingsgate Park Lake, Yate.

The ice is very thin, and an unexpected fall into icy water can be fatal even if it's shallow.

Parents, please warn your children about this.