Scrutiny review of winter service in East Sussex

Transcription

1 eastsussex.gov.uk Scrutiny review of winter service in East Sussex Report of the Transport and Environment Scrutiny Committee Councillors Stogdon (Chairman), Belsey (from May 2010), Daniel, Dowling, Fawthrop, Freeman, Rodohan and Waite (until May 2010) September 2010 Transport and Environment Scrutiny Committee 15 September 2010 Cabinet 12 October 2010 Full Council 19 October 2010

2 Scrutiny review of winter service in East Sussex Recommendations...3 Introduction by the Chairman of Transport and Environment Scrutiny Committee...5 Background...7 The East Sussex winter service policy and plan...7 Legal basis...7 The policy and the effect of severe weather...8 Public expectations...9 Have we got the policy priorities right?...10 Resources for dealing with extreme winter weather...11 Working with partners...11 Salt supplies and distribution...12 Community self help...13 Salt grit bins and hippo bags...14 Farmers using snowploughs...15 Voluntary snow clearance...16 Communications...17 Improved public communications...17 The role of Council Members...18 Appendix 1: Committee support, membership and evidence...21 Committee membership and project support...21 Evidence...21 Evidence papers

3 Recommendations Recommendation 1 The East Sussex County Council winter service policy needs to be expressed in a clear and easily understandable way. Central to this policy is the description of how different categories of routes will be treated under different weather conditions (and clarity about the set of routes which won t be treated within the County Council s policy). To assist this process, more intuitive definitions could usefully be adopted to make the picture clearer; for example, top priority routes instead of standard routes and secondary routes instead of snow routes for example. 2 a) Adjustments to current operations are needed to extend winter treatments to areas which are crucial for the operation of essential public services such as emergency services accesses and access routes to the County s hospitals and bus stations/garages. b) Transport and Environment officers should contact the bus companies serving East Sussex to elicit the impact of the winter maintenance policy during 2009/10, and to ensure that all current bus routes are classified appropriately within the policy. c) The outcomes of the Equalities Impact Assessment on the winter maintenance policy should be reported to Transport and Environment Scrutiny Committee in due course so that the Committee can consider whether further amendment to the policy is required to comply with appropriate equalities legislation. 3 The County Council should engage with partner local authorities and other key agencies to improve future coordination and proactively encourage them to develop their own severe weather contingency plans; and offer to store and provide salt to them cost effectively. 4 The expectation that householders and businesses in East Sussex will clear snow and ice from public areas near their properties during periods of severe winter weather should be actively promoted during the autumn in preparation for next winter; the promotion should include appropriate guidance on how to carry out snow clearance responsibly and encouragement to assist neighbours who are unable to clear snow themselves. 5 The Transport and Environment Department: a) Should proactively approach all parish, town, district and borough councils to offer the sale of salt and grit bins cost effectively under the current policy and extend the offer on similar terms to include residents associations or groups of residents and businesses. b) When issuing publicity around grit bins and hippo bags, should ensure that it emphasises that the salt provided is provided for public areas and not for private use, and provide suitable how to use guidance. c) Determine the location points for hippo bags. 6 Transport and Environment should engage with East Sussex farmers either by advertising widely for new participants in the farmers snow plough scheme across the whole of East Sussex, or by targeting farmers in particular geographical areas where there would be demonstrably the most benefit; the purpose would be to Page

4 Recommendation explain what the County Council could offer farmers and vice versa. 7 a) The information and advice that the Council can offer any farmer, individual or business with machinery capable of clearing roads of snow, but without a contracting arrangement with the Council, needs to be that the Council cannot endorse such action and a) they should assess whether they are capable of undertaking the task competently; b) that they are fully insured with a minimum of 10m public liability insurance cover and c) that they are made aware that they may be liable for injuries or for the repair of any damage they cause. b) That steps be taken to ensure that the publicity promoting community self help for winter preparedness under recommendation 4 or for promoting other forms of volunteering work on the highway (apart from winter emergencies) is not undermined by this stance. 8 The communication of advance or planning information by the County Council should be improved by: a) Ensuring the Council s winter service policy is described in a much more userfriendly way, paying careful attention to the use of terms that may be misleading such as standard route and snow route. b) Publishing some key facts and figures about winter service such as: the cost; the amount of salt spread, the number of miles of road covered, the number of gritting lorries; the location and usage of grit bins and hippo bags. c) Providing greater clarity, with clearer online maps, about exactly which roads are treated under the policy; importantly including a description of which types of road are excluded or receive a lesser priority treatment. d) A campaign on winter weather preparedness targeted at those without computer or Internet access. e) Using the County Council s Your County magazine and local media to provide positive encouragement and appropriate advice about community self help options and other cold weather precautionary advice as highlighted in the recommendations of the Residents Panel survey report. 9 a) The needs of County Council Members should be explicitly recognised when communications systems for winter services are being revised in the light of the lessons from the 2009/10 severe winter weather. b) The roles of Members (including the specific role of the Lead Member for Transport and Environment) should be communicated to contact centre staff so that they are better enabled to provide the public with a more helpful and realistic picture of what is involved in changing council policy. Page

5 Introduction by the Chairman of Transport and Environment Scrutiny Committee Councillor Richard Stogdon By any standards, the winter of 2009/2010 was challenging for everyone living and working in East Sussex, arguably the most challenging since the winter of 1962/1963, prior to which severe winters were not uncommon. Over the past twenty years, such winters have either been less frequent or less severe. This makes it difficult for your County Council to justify expensive preparations for an event or events which may not even occur. Modern gritting/salting machinery and snow ploughs are expensive pieces of kit, used for the sole purpose of dealing with severe snow and ice for possibly only a few days and nights each winter and require year round maintenance. The effect on the residents of East Sussex of the 2009/2010 winter prompted a number of councillors and East Sussex residents to call for a review of the County s winter highway maintenance policy. What follows is a report on the evidence provided to the East Sussex County Council s Transport & Environment Scrutiny Committee taken between March and July The Committee consists of seven councillors drawn from various parts of East Sussex and has cross party representation. Evidence was presented to the Committee orally in public session and in writing by many organisations and residents. What became clear during the course of the Committee s work, particularly against the background of reducing financial resources, is that your County Council has its work fully cut out in trying to keep clear the A, B and C class roads in East Sussex, in accordance with guidelines laid down by central government. Why is it then that the County Council s performance in regard to winter maintenance in 2010 drew so much criticism from many residents in East Sussex? Firstly, it needs to be said that the same criticisms were levelled at many other comparable county councils. Secondly, even were your County Council s resources to be massively increased to deal with severe winter weather events, there is no prospect of all the many expectations of residents being met. The Committee s focus was on the following questions: (1) What are the legal obligations of your County Council and does it comply with the guidelines provided by central government in fulfilling those obligations? (2) What are the expectations of residents and what prospect is there of meeting those expectations? (3) What can your County Council do in partnership with residents, (particularly those with disabilities), schools, hospitals, businesses and other organisations within the County, over and above its policy of keeping the County s major routes clear? In particular, how can your County Council assist the boroughs, districts, towns and parishes of East Sussex in regard to the pavements and low-priority roads? (4) Since the County Council is in a favourable position to buy grit bins and salt at beneficial rates, how are these to be provided to residents, businesses, nursing homes, hospitals, surgeries, boroughs, districts, towns and parishes on advantageous terms? 5

6 (5) What is the role of individual volunteers, volunteer organisations, businesses, farmers and others in regard to local winter clearance operations, particularly roads not having priority in the County Council s policy? In particular, what is the role of individual residents, shop owners and others in regard to pavement and road clearance? Should there be fear in regard to legal liability? How can our County Council help us to help ourselves? The answer to question (1) is relatively clear cut. The Council s clearly stated policy is to keep the main routes clear and its achievement in that regard is mentioned in this report. The answers to the questions at (5) are also clear cut. The likelihood of individual residents incurring legal liability for clearing roads, pavements and footpaths is very remote. How is it that what was in 1963 here, and currently is in Germany, Switzerland and many other parts of the world, regarded as something akin to a civic duty, has more recently become the subject for the ambulance chasing quasi-legal fraternity without any substance whatever? If our vehicle using predecessors in 1963 used snow tyres in the months of most severe winter, as do many of our European neighbours now, how is that we have abandoned the practice? While the answers to questions (2), (3) and (4) may be less clear, hopefully, you will find that the report deals with these questions the Committee certainly grappled with them. For some, the answers will undoubtedly be disappointing, necessarily made so by the prospect of limited and reducing resources. What is clear, and we hope the Committee s report fully reflects this, is that if we as a County are to cope with future severe winter events, self-help and help by us as individuals and our communities to our less able neighbours is crucial to a better outcome. Councillor Richard Stogdon Chairman, Transport and Environment Scrutiny Committee August

7 Background 1. On 10 March 2010 the Transport and Environment Scrutiny Committee examined the experiences and lessons learnt from the County Council s Transport and Environment Department s winter maintenance response to the particularly severe winter weather in 2009/10. The Transport and Environment Department highlighted the endeavours and commitment of staff who had sought to maintain services throughout the severe weather period despite the huge difficulties faced. Members wished to record their thanks and appreciation to all concerned. The effort was also clearly welcomed by the many people who provided evidence to the Scrutiny Committee who clearly appreciated the scale of the winter service challenges in the context of limited County Council resources. 2. The Committee compiled evidence detailing the severe weather experiences and responses of a variety of individuals, agencies and partner organisations. Witnesses from the County Council included staff from Transport and Environment, legal services, the risk and insurance manager and Head of Communications. The list of contributions is detailed at appendix 1. In addition, the Scrutiny Committee took account of the results of a council Residents Panel consultation on winter maintenance and readiness for severe weather. 3. The Scrutiny Committee met on 24 May 2010 and 16 June 2010 to review progress being made to prepare for future similar eventualities and is now submitting this final report with all its recommendations for changes it considers necessary to help improve preparedness for future years. The East Sussex winter service policy and plan Legal basis 4. East Sussex County Council, as a highway authority, is under a duty to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice (Section 41, Highways Act 1980). This is not an absolute duty because of the reasonably practicable qualification. Well-maintained Highways (a code of practice published by the Department for Transport in 2005 / updated December 2009) acknowledges that given the scale of the financial and other resources involved in delivering the winter service, it is not reasonable to provide the service on all parts of the network nor to ensure that surfaces are kept free of ice or snow at all times, even on treated routes. 5. There is no mandatory guidance on how to deliver a winter service by local highway authorities. However, there is published guidance, legal precedents and good practice all of which needs to be taken account of when devising a local winter highways policy. Wellmaintained Highways, recommends that highways authorities should: formally adopt a policy formally approve a winter service operational plan (which should include details of routes to be treated under various conditions and processes for recording information and operational decisions) review the plan annually coordinate with adjacent authorities, and provide information publicly on the approach being taken. 6. Advice by East Sussex County Council legal officers is that the current policy complies with this duty and with current guidelines. 7

8 The policy and the effect of severe weather 7. The current East Sussex County Council winter policy is described in the document entitled Winter Service Policy and Plan 2009/10 available on the County Council s website. Transport and Environment officers conclude that the policy, as it stands, was adhered to during the severe weather periods of the 2009/10 winter and, as a result, the major road network in East Sussex remained largely open. 8. The policy itself derives from a risk-based approach designed to provide the maximum benefit to the maximum number of people. This means that the roads with the greatest volume of vehicle traffic take priority within the policy. Revisions to the policy are undertaken every few years and changes made to reflect the most recently measured traffic flows. 9. In summary, the policy provides: For the precautionary salting of a network of some 840 miles of top priority roads when icy conditions are forecast; this set of roads are referred to as the standard routes in the policy. The standard routes represent 42% of the road network which fall within the responsibility of East Sussex County Council. Footways, pedestrian precincts and cycle ways are excluded from the definition of standard routes. For the salting of an additional 200 miles of roads when there is a forecast of snow; these additional routes are referred to as the snow routes in the policy. The standard routes and snow routes together bring the total coverage to over 50%. This represents the highest percentage of road network for any local authority in the south east. 10. Following snowfall, snow is removed from the standard routes first followed by the snow routes until clear. Once these are clear, other roads are then cleared to assist hospitals, fire services, ambulance and police stations; other public interchanges, difficult sites such as steep hills, shopping areas, schools etc. 11. The response to requests for evidence suggests that there is some public confusion over these definitions. One respondent wrongly thought that the snow routes are the top priority roads for immediate snow clearance, as might be implied by the name. There is also confusion about which roads and streets are included in each definition. For example, some people argued that prioritising scheduled bus routes (a definition which would also be more easily understood by the public) would meet the policy commitment of providing the maximum benefit for the maximum number of people; but some bus routes currently fall neither within the standard nor snow routes. 12. During the most severe weather periods during 2009/10, the volume of snow together with restrictions on salt supplies (see below) meant that the County Council s winter maintenance activity was limited almost exclusively to keeping the standard routes clear. The snow routes and even lower priority areas were not treated even after the first few days of the severe weather periods. There were short periods of such severe weather when treatments made no difference to the condition of any of the roads. 13. It is therefore understandable that the public reacted so vocally. On the one hand the County Council was successfully focussed on meeting its stated winter maintenance policy commitments, and yet the experience of many was that the snow routes and local roads and pavements outside the policy remained untreated and unusable or hazardous for several days. 14. The main thrust of this report addresses the need to change public expectations and to get the balance right between local authority provision and community and individual self help. But in order to achieve that and to allow others to develop their own resilience plans, there needs to be greater clarity about what the County Council policy means in very practical terms. It seems that the definitions we are using and the way we describe our policy might be making this task more difficult than it needs to be. 8

9 Recommendation 1. The East Sussex County Council winter service policy needs to be expressed in a clear and easily understandable way. Central to this policy is the description of how different categories of routes will be treated under different weather conditions (and clarity about the set of routes which won t be treated within the County Council s policy). To assist this process, more intuitive definitions could usefully be adopted to make the picture clearer; for example, top priority routes instead of standard routes and secondary routes instead of snow routes for example. Public expectations 15. The electronic reporting of faults via the Council s website and telephone calls to the Department s contact centre are the prime means for the public to report problems and faults. During the 2009/10 severe weather the Transport and Environment Contact Centre handled approximately 12,000 phone calls and 6,000 s compared to 5,000 calls and 2,500 s over a similar period in the previous year. At times it struggled to cope with this level of demand. 16. Many residents were satisfied with the response and information they received. But others felt the response was unhelpful or not handled positively. Many callers were expecting the Council to treat routes or pavements outside the priority treatment routes and this type of contact inevitably left callers disappointed. At the very least, callers expected clarity about what action was going to be taken in response to their problem (if any) and an ability to monitor progress. 17. Several County Council Members in their evidence reported receiving dozens of calls a day at the height of the severe weather from stranded residents trying to cope with snow and ice. The expectations and assumptions of many of these callers were also very clear: that the County Council, and in some cases the individual Member personally, has a responsibility for clearing the snow and ice from their street. 18. Similar reports were received from parish councillors who said that the complaints they received centred on the lack of grit available to treat short lengths of road which were preventing access to roads that had been cleared. 19. The Scrutiny Committee approached a wide range of individuals and organisations (see appendix 1, page 21) asking them for practical and affordable suggestions for improvements in the light of their experiences. The resulting responses produced a wealth of valuable ideas and helpful observations and provide us with a strong indication about how we might go about changing wider public expectations about what is reasonable to expect of the County Council and what gaps then remain to be filled through the input of others. 20. To try to quantify the level of public expectation, the Transport and Environment Department collated all the requests they received for additional roads to be treated. They calculated that adding just these roads to the standard and snow routes would increase the total length of road requiring salting by approximately 100 miles, costing an additional 250,000. If these requests were to be met then all other similarly classified roads and streets across the county would also need to be added to ensure the policy remains consistent. The resultant cost of doing that would exceed any available budget or foreseeable reserve. 9

10 Have we got the policy priorities right? 21. The roads in the current standard and snow route definitions comprise all of the A and B road network, much of the C road network, and a few significant unclassified roads; by definition the routes covered by the policy are those which link towns and villages together but include relatively few local or in-settlement roads. Both Transport and Environment and the Scrutiny Committee received a wide range of suggestions for different or additional types of route to be prioritised. These requests consistently included: scheduled bus routes, steeply sloping roads and pavements, main roads and side roads within villages, roads on some housing estates, areas near doctors surgeries, shopping precincts, highly trafficked pedestrian areas, pavements where particularly vulnerable residents live, and town centres. 22. The Committee therefore considered whether local roads and pavements ought to receive higher priority for salting and snow clearance. This was on the basis of requests received from the public arguing that, during periods of heavy ice and snow, the priority for residents is to be able to move around within their town or village and be able to access local shops, say, rather than to be able to drive to a distant town. 23. On balance, the Committee considered that the County Council s policy should continue to reflect the current priorities on the basis that: the policy is geared towards keeping an open strategic road network which is essential to enable the access of supplies to towns and villages, and to maintain critical utility and other services a shift away from the current policy is more likely to lead to reduced safety on roads which have a relatively high volume of traffic there is generally a large reduction in car use within settlements when conditions are icy and snowy as most people turn to walking (to local shops for example); therefore many in-settlement roads are not a logical priority for treatment by the County Council, rather this gap in provision will need to be filled by a range of community self help methods smaller settlements without local shops depend on the strategic routes to reach towns and villages that have the services they require. 24. However, the Department does need to address some anomalies in the policy by making adjustments to current operations which are crucial for the operation of essential public services. These include emergency services access routes to the County s hospitals, and the areas around bus stations, garages and depots to enable buses to reach the treated roads. 25. Bus routes appear to cause particular confusion because they fall into different priority categories ranging from standard route to snow routes to lesser priority routes. During the winter, one local bus company requested the County Council to upgrade all of its scheduled bus routes in the snow route category to standard routes. It may therefore be useful for Transport and Environment officers to engage with all the bus companies operating in East Sussex to explain the current policy and to ensure that all current bus routes are reviewed and classified appropriately. 26. An Equalities Impact Assessment will be carried out on the winter maintenance policy as part of a cross council programme of assessments. This will establish whether the policy can be improved by examining the effect it has on different groups in the community. In particular the assessment will consider the extent to which Disabilities Discrimination Act legislation should influence any assessment about what constitutes a standard or snow route and priority areas for salting and snow clearance. 10

11 Recommendation 2. a) Adjustments to current operations are needed to extend winter treatments to areas which are crucial for the operation of essential public services such as emergency services accesses and access routes to the County s hospitals and bus stations/garages. b) Transport and Environment officers should contact the bus companies serving East Sussex to elicit the impact of the winter maintenance policy during 2009/10, and to ensure that all current bus routes are classified appropriately within the policy. c) The outcomes of the Equalities Impact Assessment on the winter maintenance policy should be reported to Transport and Environment Scrutiny Committee in due course so that the Committee can consider whether further amendment to the policy is required to comply with appropriate equalities legislation. Resources for dealing with extreme winter weather 27. In a normal year the winter service operation costs approximately 1.25m; in the winter of 2009/10 the cost was of the order of 1.6m. A winter service reserve is funded from accumulated underspends in the winter service base budget from previous years but in 2009/10 it was necessary to 'top up' the reserve from budget savings elsewhere. The Transport and Environment Department estimates that a reserve of 0.5m is adequate to manage most of the typical winter weather demands experienced over recent years. 28. To keep costs within resource limits the Department has explored the possibilities for achieving efficiencies by working more closely with neighbouring local authorities and the Highways Agency. In the short term this is fraught with difficulties caused by the different policy requirements and contract timescales of the different authorities making the possibility of winter maintenance provision by a single contractor across the whole region an unlikely proposition in the near future. Nonetheless, efforts by the Transport and Environment Department are being undertaken to seek long term efficiencies through joint working. Working with partners 29. The Committee documented and analysed a range of problems and considered solutions suggested by a number of partners: Some district councils suggested that there needs to be better coordination between the County Council and district councils to be able to, for example, redirect staff to undertake priority functions such as ensuring the needs of vulnerable people are met, and then to undertake other activities such as pavement clearing. District, borough, town and parish councils had staff and volunteers available to clear snow and ice manually and to spread salt. This resource was only partially used because the County Council was required to limit the supply of salt (see below); some parishes were concerned about the insurance and third party liability implications of using volunteers or staff to clear snow in public areas. Some organisations demonstrated high levels of innovation in responding to the conditions; for example, one school head teacher used an ing list to mobilise support from an army of volunteers to help clear playgrounds and walkways within the school grounds enabling the school to open. Many organisations requested snow clearance on privately owned land which the Council could not provide. 11

12 30. Whilst Transport and Environment provided some advice to partners during the severe weather, the Committee considered that more needed to be done to ensure that timely information is provided to enable individuals, partners and other agencies to develop effective contingency arrangements to deal with severe winter weather. For example, a head teacher reported that insufficient information on road conditions was available to enable her to decide whether to open the school with the risk of staff and parents/carers travelling on potentially unsafe roads. 31. In severe and extended periods of snow, the policy as it stands does not meet demand for a wide range of needs including the treatment of pavements and pedestrianised areas or indeed keeping every road in the county clear. The gap between the County Council s winter service provision and what communities and other agencies want demonstrably widens as the weather deteriorates. Alternative and innovative ways need to be found to fill that gap. 32. In the current financial climate, ultimately this means that individuals, the Council s partners and other agencies must take greater responsibility and ownership of the problem. The way forward requires a combination of initiatives including greater reliance on community self help, improved working arrangements with partners, and more targeted information. These points are discussed in the rest of this report. Recommendation 3. The County Council should engage with partner local authorities and other key agencies to improve future coordination and proactively encourage them to develop their own severe weather contingency plans; and offer to store and provide salt to them cost effectively. Salt supplies and distribution 33. Rock salt, rather than grit (sand) or a mixture, is used on the roads of East Sussex. Salt does not provide or assist with vehicle tyre traction on road surfaces in icy or snowy weather. It works by preventing or delaying the formation of ice by reducing the freezing point of water. Salt is largely ineffective on roads if temperatures fall below -5 C. Some neighbouring authorities stretched their salt supplies by using a mixture of salt and grit on their roads and footways. However the problems they experienced subsequently, such as clogged gulleys and blocked drains, suggests that the East Sussex salt-only policy is best overall. 34. East Sussex County Council, through its highways contractor, has capacity to store approximately 15,000 tonnes of salt. In a normal year supplies of around 8,000 9,000 tonnes are ordered initially. Care is needed not to order too much because there are costs involved in storage; salt piles cannot simply be left for long periods, especially in cold and damp conditions, but need to be covered and regularly churned to ensure the salt remains free running and usable. Without regular churning, salt piles tend to congeal into an unusable mass. 35. The ease of transportation of salt to East Sussex via Shoreham Harbour means that in a normal winter, sufficient additional stocks can always be procured when needed. Therefore the Transport and Environment Department currently anticipates that a normal provision of 9,000 tonnes will be purchased for the start of next winter. 36. Since the County Council is in a strong position to bulk purchase and store salt for other partners, it can and does sell salt to district, borough, town and parish councils so that they can take advantage of the economies of scale that can be achieved. For Transport and Environment to be able to do this efficiently will require partner authorities to be clear about their contingency plans and priorities for severe weather, and so provide estimates as to how much salt they are likely to need. The total of these estimates can then be added to the 9,000 tonnes order and recharged to those partners. 12

13 37. This system works satisfactorily in a normal winter because salt supplies are able to keep up with demand. However the unusually cold weather conditions during the winter of 2009/10 resulted in considerably higher than normal salt usage and early depletion of salt stocks for many highway authorities across the country. But, there was no early warning of any problem. On 4 February 2010 Ministers established a national priority salt distribution system which became known as the Salt Cell. 38. Although East Sussex County Council did not run out of salt during the winter, the Salt Cell considerably reduced our ability to provide salt to others who requested it. Requests came from a wide range of agencies including: parish, borough and district councils as well as schools, fire and rescue services, hospitals and the police which the County Council could not meet. 39. Whether salt cell or other restrictions on salt supply will be imposed in future years is unknown at this stage; a position which adds to the complexity faced by all parties when attempting to plan for severe weather. Community self help 40. The County Council highway winter maintenance policy does not cover the treatment of many residential and side roads or pavements and, as discussed above, Transport and Environment needs to engage with partner local authorities and other key agencies to proactively encourage them to develop their own severe weather contingency plans. However, a constant theme in our considerations was the importance of local community self help in speeding up recovery during the most severe weather periods. 41. The Committee considers that self help activity is greatly hampered by media publicity given to the risk of possible litigation against residents and local businesses who cleared their paths and frontages and there was a consequent slip or fall by a member of the public. This fear of civil action is exacerbated by the growing compensation culture and the rising tide of irresponsible no win no fee advertising publicity of legal and quasi-legal firms. 42. No authority has the total resources available to bring about an immediate recovery for the kind of extreme weather events we witnessed during periods of the 2009/10 winter. The local community needs to be mobilised and given the permission to take sensible steps in helping themselves and their neighbours. 43. In some other parts of the world the public are expected to help keep the streets clear of snow: USA Minneapolis: the local authority website says that keeping sidewalks free of ice and snow is the neighbourly thing to do, and it's the law. Snow must be removed from pavements outside homes within 24 hours of snowfall ending and sidewalk sand is provided. If snow is not cleared then the local authority gives the property owner a warning, then as a last resort city crews do the job and send the home owner a bill. USA Boston: the Mayor's website emphasises that people have a personal responsibility to remove snow from the full paved width of the sidewalk or a minimum of 42 inches. Fines are up to $250 per day the snow is left. Germany, Austria and Switzerland have strict regulations. Most German towns have a street cleaning statute in which snow shovelling requirements are spelt out in detail, down to the minimum width of the cleared area and the time during which the snow must be kept cleared. 13

14 44. This is not the case in the UK. Nonetheless, the Council can still do much to promote a greater sense of civic responsibility for individual householders and businesses to take action to clear snow and ice in their locality. As one participant in this review put it: We need to empower East Sussex residents and businesses who do not live on A or B roads to help themselves. 45. The widespread fear held by householders and businesses that they risk being sued if they clear snow from the pavement outside their properties now appears largely mythical and media driven. There is advice available on the legal position contained in an advice note from the Council s legal officers provided to the Committee in March 2010, and more recently from the Ministry of Justice which states:. The only person who is at risk of being sued is a person who clears the snow so badly that things are worse than before and that common sense would indicate that this is so; an example given is that of a person who clears a path with water in freezing temperatures and pays no attention to the fact that the water left behind freezes and creates slippery ice. 46. Town and parish councils, communities, schools, GP practices and individuals can therefore be given clear advice on the legal position about clearing snow and ice from public areas. The Committee considers that the Council should actively promote snow and ice clearance by the community whilst providing an honest appraisal of the risks and liabilities. Recommendation 4. The expectation that householders and businesses in East Sussex will clear snow and ice from public areas near their properties during periods of severe winter weather should be actively promoted during the autumn in preparation for next winter; the promotion should include appropriate guidance on how to carry out snow clearance responsibly and encouragement to assist neighbours who are unable to clear snow themselves. Salt grit bins and hippo bags 47. Until 1997 the County Council supplied grit bins (containing salt) at key strategic locations across the county. However, the cost was relatively high and problems arose such as the misuse of salt and damage to bins; finding suitably safe locations in urban areas often posed a particular problem. So the policy was changed to the current position where existing bins introduced under the old scheme are still maintained and new bins are provided only when paid for by parish, town or district councils. Small bins cost 150, large bins 250 and each refill costs approximately In their submissions to the Committee, parishes and individuals highlighted the following issues concerning grit bins from the experience of the severe weather of 2009/10: a) Many members of the public were uncertain where their nearest bin was located b) Bins were being emptied by the public far faster than refills could be provided c) Theft or vandalism of bins, or salt being used for personal use rather than for public areas; led to suggestions that someone needs to manage or adopt each bin d) The need for guidelines about how to use the salt, for example how much to use, so as not to waste it e) The suggestion that hilly roads should be specifically targeted for grit bins. 14

15 49. Despite some of these problems, there is an overwhelming public view that grit bins are a good thing. The Committee concurs with this view and considers them an essential component of any strategy that aims to increase community self help activity to complement the winter service offer of the County Council. 50. Since the County Council is able to bulk purchase grit bins and salt, it makes sense for any authority wanting a grit bin to consider buying it through the County Council. This offer certainly needs greater publicity because many parish, town and district councils said that they were unaware of it. Some were under the impression that the earlier change of policy meant that the County Council had stopped providing and filling grit bins altogether. 51. The Committee sees no reason why the offer of a grit bin cannot be extended to include residents associations, or indeed any group of willing residents or businesses. The key provisos would be that any proposed location is deemed suitable by the Transport and Environment Department; the grit bin, and any refill, should be paid for in advance; and, suitable management arrangements should be demonstrated. This offer is more likely to be attractive in areas such as Hastings where there is no parish or town council. 52. During the course of the scrutiny review, the Transport and Environment Department indicated that it intends to supplement the network of grit bins with hippo bags of salt dropped at key locations around the county for community use in an identical way to grit bins. This idea has proved popular elsewhere because it provides a flexible alternative to the fixed locations of grit bins. There remain issues to be resolved about the location of dropping points (and associated publicity for residents) and charging, but in principle this idea is very much welcomed by the Committee. Recommendation 5. The Transport and Environment Department: a) Should proactively approach all parish, town, district and borough councils to offer the sale of salt and grit bins cost effectively under the current policy and extend the offer on similar terms to include residents associations or groups of residents and businesses. b) When issuing publicity around grit bins and hippo bags, should ensure that it emphasises that the salt provided is provided for public areas and not for private use, and provide suitable how to use guidance. c) Determine the location points for hippo bags. Farmers using snowploughs 53. Some 30 local farmers across East Sussex are listed with Transport and Environment as available to clear rural roads using County Council provided snow ploughs attached to their tractors. They are paid at a National Farmers Union (NFU) agreed rate for the time they work. Approximately half of them were called upon during the 2009/10 winter and the decision about when to use them, and which roads to cover, lies with Transport and Environment. 15

16 54. For the purposes of undertaking snow clearance work, the farmers in this scheme are considered to be contractors. Any contractor undertaking highways work on behalf of the Council, including clearing snow from public roads, is required to have public liability insurance cover of 10m. Most businesses typically have less than this level of cover which is sufficient for their day to day activities. Some farmers reported that the top-up insurance premiums are high or difficult to negotiate; the Committee requested estimates of indicative additional premiums and noted the fact that prolonged periods of severe weather requiring the calling up of farmers has happened only rarely over the last five years; but several days of snow clearance work during a season is likely to be needed for farmers to recover their costs. 55. The criteria for engaging farmers under this scheme are that the roads to be cleared are public roads and would not normally be a priority for snow clearance due to their classification and importance. The approach provides the flexibility for the Council to determine the extent to which farmers can work and which roads are cleared. The system seems to work well for isolated snow incidents. However, during the prolonged snow conditions of 2009/10, the requirement for clear direction, guidance and robust management of this scheme became more apparent. 56. Some parish council representatives expressed surprise that the scheme is still operating in East Sussex and many thought that it had been disbanded some years ago. All are in favour of the scheme in principle and many indicated that there were farmers willing to join who are not currently involved. The Transport and Environment Department s assessment is that more of this type of coverage is needed in certain parts of the county. 57. The Committee strongly welcomes this scheme but noted the widespread confusion about its existence and scope amongst parishes. Some Council Members cited particular experiences where a farmer and snowplough would have been able to help in their local area but no scheme farmers were located in those areas. Indeed with just 30 farmers in the scheme across the whole of East Sussex this activity is, inevitably, currently spread very thinly. Recommendation 6. Transport and Environment should engage with East Sussex farmers either by advertising widely for new participants in the farmers snow plough scheme across the whole of East Sussex, or by targeting farmers in particular geographical areas where there would be demonstrably the most benefit; the purpose would be to explain what the County Council could offer farmers and vice versa. Voluntary snow clearance 58. In extreme weather when faced with a long period of isolation and snow blockage, many individuals or businesses with the wherewithal do not remain idle. The evidence is that some people have taken independent action to clear snow to regain access for themselves and their neighbours on a voluntary basis, often in a gesture of public spiritedness. 59. A distinction needs to be drawn between a member of the public who shovels snow off a pavement outside their home, and, say, a farmer who voluntarily uses their own machinery to clear snow from a blocked country lane. The Director of Corporate Resources considers that the latter is an activity that the County Council, as Highways Authority, has a duty to manage in a robust manner ie. this activity requires some degree of active supervision. His view is that anyone taking a plough to the public highway voluntarily on their own initiative during a winter emergency cannot be adequately supervised by the Highway Authority to a level required by the Council s insurers; the farmer s standard motor insurance may not automatically cover them for this type of risk. 16

17 60. Anyone requesting advice on whether they can undertake such activities would need to be informed of this fact and, as a minimum, be asked to consider whether they are competent to do the work; that they have checked with their insurers that they possess valid third party liability on their motor insurance to a minimum of 10m cover (now accepted by most highways authorities as the amount required for work on the highway); and, that they understand that they would be liable for repairs for any damage they cause. 61. This stance is likely to be perceived by the public as being contradictory: on the one hand the Council is actively to promote community self help in respect of the public clearing snow from pavements, whereas for farmers and other private machine owners and operators who voluntarily or spontaneously want to use snowploughs or other machinery on the public roads, the message is not to do it. This highlights the need for carefully targeted publicity to ensure that the message to the public isn t confused by the specific legal liability issues surrounding farmers voluntarily clearing roads using their own machinery such as tractors and snowploughs. 62. Furthermore, the Committee wants to highlight a clear distinction between volunteers working on the highway during winter emergencies and at other times when appropriate supervision and risk assessments, as required by the Council s insurers, are more easily achieved. Recommendation 7. a) The information and advice that the Council can offer any farmer, individual or business with machinery capable of clearing roads of snow, but without a contracting arrangement with the Council, needs to be that the Council cannot endorse such action and a) they should assess whether they are capable of undertaking the task competently; b) that they are fully insured with a minimum of 10m public liability insurance cover and c) that they are made aware that they may be liable for injuries or for the repair of any damage they cause. b) That steps be taken to ensure that the publicity promoting community self help for winter preparedness under recommendation 4 or for promoting other forms of volunteering work on the highway (apart from winter emergencies) is not undermined by this stance. Communications Improved public communications 63. The Transport and Environment Department and Corporate Communications Team are setting out to improve publicly accessible information about winter preparedness in time for next winter. This is welcomed because many of the public and partner concerns received could be addressed to a significant degree by improved information and effective dissemination. 64. There are broadly two categories, and uses, of information requiring separate consideration: Firstly there is planning information published in advance of any severe weather; this covers descriptions of Council policies, plans and statements of what we will do and what we will not be able to do under various weather situations etc indeed all the information required to assist individuals, businesses and partner agencies to plan for severe weather. Secondly there is the fast-changing, detailed response information required during a bout of severe weather to enable people to make immediate decisions about how to respond whether it is a member of the public deciding whether to set off for work or 17

18 school by car or bus, or an ambulance trust deploying resources to best meet a short term response. 65. The recommendation below focuses on improving planning information and is primarily aimed at improving the way we communicate a realistic picture of what can be expected from the County Council s winter service policy. It is derived from the many individual comments we received from partner agencies, the public and parish, town, district and borough councils. 66. The demand for response information from the County Council was clearly significant as evidenced by the unusually large numbers of s and phone calls received by the Transport and Environment contact centre during the 2009/10 severe weather (see paragraph 15, page 9 and the discussion above about public expectations). 67. It may be that by changing public expectations, encouraging greater community self help and painting a clearer picture about what the Council s winter service plan means in practice will lead to a significant reduction in the number of calls under similar circumstances in future. If that is the case, then officer time would be helpfully freed up to handle the most urgent calls. 68. The Committee is seeking assurance that attention is to be given to looking beyond using the Council s website which was only used by 9% of residents (Residents Survey, ESCC Communications Team, April 2010) to include local media providers to see if there are ways to present a more timely, informative and localised picture of the fast changing nature of road conditions and public transport services during severe weather. This recommendation of the Residents Panel report is endorsed by the Scrutiny Committee along with that report more generally. Recommendation 8. The communication of advance or planning information by the County Council should be improved by: a) Ensuring the Council s winter service policy is described in a much more user-friendly way, paying careful attention to the use of terms that may be misleading such as standard route and snow route. b) Publishing some key facts and figures about winter service such as: the cost; the amount of salt spread, the number of miles of road covered, the number of gritting lorries; the location and usage of grit bins and hippo bags. c) Providing greater clarity, with clearer online maps, about exactly which roads are treated under the policy; importantly including a description of which types of road are excluded or receive a lesser priority treatment. d) A campaign on winter weather preparedness targeted at those without computer or Internet access. e) Using the County Council s Your County magazine and local media to provide positive encouragement and appropriate advice about community self help options and other cold weather precautionary advice as highlighted in the recommendations of the Residents Panel survey report. The role of Council Members 69. The Committee sought to clarify the role that elected Members should play in relation to severe winter weather. Basically there are two roles to consider: A role in listening to the concerns and issues raised by local residents, businesses and callers and disseminating information, help and advice about the immediate situation and conditions and self help options; and 18