Dumfries and Galloway Council making preparations for winter weather

A series of action steps are to be taken to ensure that Dumfries and Galloway Council is well prepared for winter kicking in.

A review of grit bin provision across the region will be carried out after councillors raised concerns about gritting on roads and pavements.

Assurances were also given that more work would be done to improve the state of roads throughout the area before they deteriorate further in extreme weather.

Meanwhile, snow poles may even be introduced to act as markers highlighting road hazards to prevent large vehicles from tipping over.

Castle Douglas Councillor Pauline Drysdale highlighted the problem when the winter service plan was discussed at the communities committee.

She said: “We’ve had some instances on some of our more rural roads with large vehicles tipping over in passing places.

“I did ask a couple of years ago if there would be snow poles installed in those passing places – snow poles of a higher height so that vehicles know where the passing places are.

“Tipping over does obviously endanger life and cause a lot of back-up in these rural communities when the roads are blocked for some time.”

Stuart Caven, a team leader with the roads department, said that he wasn’t aware of any discussions surrounding the installation of snow poles but would look into it.

Abbey Councillor Davie Stitt highlighted a problem where a registered social landlord was willing to install a grit bin in a housing scheme but claimed the council refused to supply the grit for it.

Mr Stitt said: “This scheme is 75 percent full of elderly people, and I think we should be working with one another to alleviate problems in case some old age pensioner slips and breaks bones.”

Councillor Archie Dryburgh, communities committee chairman, added: “I think it is about time that we reviewed where the grit bins are.

“There has been a lot of building in Dumfries and Galloway – extensions to towns and villages across the area – and so it might be an idea to do a review and come back at a later date with a report on it.”

Mr Hay said: “I think your suggestion of a future report is a good one. As is detailed in this report, a lot of our planning is predicated on the fact that we’ve got fantastic community resilience groups and organisations across the region who know their communities extremely well.

“We rely upon them for intelligence, we work with them in partnership etc, so the team will be very happy to look at any revised demographics or material change in circumstances that could be factored in to collectively help Dumfries and Galloway prepare for this type of inclement weather.”