Winter weather

Update on City Council services

(Date of issue: Wednesday, 30 December 2009)

More than 10 tonnes of salt has been used to grit over 150 pavement locations in problem areas of Carlisle over the past few days.

Carlisle City Council’s Area Maintenance teams have been continuing to grit pavements which are on slopes, or that are close by to vulnerable residents including elderly and disabled householders.

More than 60 tonnes of grit has also been used on the main bus routes within the city area, on behalf of Cumbria County Council, the local Highways Agency. Gritting began before Christmas and more grit has been collected in readiness of any future freezing temperatures.

Cllr Ray Bloxham, Portfolio holder for Environment and Infrastructure, said:

"Although we’re not able to grit every pavement within the city, we will do as much as we can to support those residents most in need of our help. In addition to gritting, we will also be replenishing salt bins.

"We appreciate that this is a difficult time for residents and we hope that other agencies, such as housing associations, will follow our lead and clear pavements around vulnerable residents’ homes.

"We also ask residents to check on elderly or disabled neighbours who cannot get out because of the weather to make sure they are managing to look after themselves properly during this cold period."

Due to the icy conditions, refuse and recycling services may also be affected in Carlisle.

Although the majority of waste has been collected, there are, however, a small number of side roads, estate roads or cul de sacs where the road conditions mean that it is difficult for the refuse wagons to get access. These are mainly in the rural areas.

Every effort will be made to collect any missed waste and paper/card collections. Residents are advised to leave these out and we’ll collect them as soon as we can.

Residents, whose greenbox has not been emptied so far, are being asked to put it out on their next calendar collection date. The extra recycling waste can be left in bags and containers and will be collected on that day.