Request for more gritting near school rejected

Large parts of North Yorkshire are often badly affected by winter conditions

Council bosses have rejected requests from residents, schools and businesses across North Yorkshire to make their roads a high priority for gritting during winter.

North Yorkshire Council declined 20 out of 21 applications for amendments to its current winter maintenance schedule at a meeting on Friday.

Among the unsuccessful applicants was Wavell Community Primary School at Catterick Garrison which was forced to close for several days in January due to snow and ice.

Martin Taylor, the council's executive member for highways and transportation, said North Yorkshire stretched for nearly 120 miles and had almost 6,000 miles of roads, making gritting "extremely challenging".

Mr Taylor added: "It is always difficult to turn down a request but each one is considered at length given the challenging financial constraints North Yorkshire Council is facing."

'Cumulative impact'

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, most applications asked the council to upgrade their roads from priority three, which are only treated if freezing conditions persist for more than 72 hours.

A council spokesperson said the requests were rejected because the current level of treatment was in line with the council's policy and consistent with the approach elsewhere in the county.

In the case of Wavell Primary School, council officers pointed out that the school was about 100m from a priority one road, meaning staff could reach the general area by car in bad weather.

The council said that although it would not upgrade the road, it would consider specific requests from the school for treatment of the road in the future.

A petition from 23 residents of Heyshaw, between Harrogate and Pateley Bridge, was handed to the council asking for roads in and out of the village to be added to a gritting route as the community became isolated during icy and snowy conditions.

Another application which was rejected was a request by Drax Power Station to grit the material handling entrance at the plant.

While the council acknowledged that salting an additional 433m to meet the request was easily achievable, it could set a precedent for other similar appeals which may then have a "significant cumulative impact across the county".

The authority did accept a request from Westmorland and Furness Council to treat one of its roads at Dent Head viaduct which it said it was unable to access due to a landslip.

North Yorkshire Council said it would charge the costs back to the neighbouring authority.

The rejected requests were:

• Wardrop Road outside Wavell Community Primary School, Catterick Garrison

• Westfields in Richmond

• West End in Preston-under-Scar

• Road surfaces between the A19 and Over Silton

• Ingleby Bank at Ingleby Greenhow

• Road surfaces between Kilburn and Oldstead

• Watlass Lane, Thornton Watlass

• Roads in Speeton, near Filey

• Road to Ravenscar

• Raikeswood Drive, Skipton

• Moss End Lane, Cowling

• Heyshaw Village and Dike Lane

• Residential roads in Burton Leonard

• Spring Lane, Pannal

• Careless House Lane near Fountains Abbey

• Moor Lane, Aldfield

• Bishop Way, Bishop Garth and Bishop Close, Pateley Bridge

• Laverton village

• Park Road, Asenby

• Material handling entrance at Drax Power Station

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