Cool response to request for winter salt bins

Icy bridge footpath last winter.

A request to Kildare County Council to pilot a scheme of providing salt bins to community groups in areas not covered by the authority's Winter Maintenance Plan has so far received a cold shoulder response, writes Brian Byrne.

The request was made by Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer at this week's monthly meeting of the Kildare-Newbridge MD where she noted that Fingal County Council has agreed to operate such a scheme.

"Last winter, during the extended cold spells, we found that a number of our roads and footpaths were in a constant state of frozen," she told the meeting, "and I'm sure we all received calls from locals offering help to either grit footpaths in towns or along known icy stretches of road. Every year this comes up and councillors ask for additional roads and paths to be gritted and every year due to lack of funding and resources it’s not possible."

Asking KCC to 'think outside the grit box', she suggested  that resident groups, community groups, schools and churches could apply to the Council for salt bins and if the application is successful the Council would get its supplier to deliver a salt bin with maybe one fill of salt. "Taking care of the bin, refilling the bin and spreading the salt becomes the responsibility of the groups," she said, adding that if liability is a concern, providing a grant to the groups to purchase bins would would eliminate a tendering process and liability.

In response, officials said the provision and servicing of such bins is not included in the Winter Maintenance Plan 'due to the staff resources required to maintain the service, associated costs and potential liability issues'.

The report noted that KCC treats approximately 680km of roads in the county under the WMP.

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