A recently announced change in Calderdale Councils gritting policy has left Elland residents confused and anxious.
Clarification is being sought by local councillors and community leaders, after a number of local residents raised concerns about the impact of the changes. The council has said the changes are to save £300k and a number of roads will no longer be on the precautionary gritting route list.
The problem is that no one seems to know what is meant by ‘precautionary route’, and there are concerns that a number of roads which are being removed from this list, are steep and potentially dangerous.
Extra confusion has been caused by gritters being spotted spreading salt when the temperature was 9’c and was forecast to go down to just 6’c. One Elland resident said “If they are trying to save money, sending them out in the mild weather doesn’t make sense”.