My colleague David Ridgway and I are really angry after snow fall once again brought chaos to residents living on higher ground in the Colne Valley over the last two weekends.

We are both absolutely fed up with the lack of understanding shown by the Cabinet running Kirklees.  On Friday 27th Jan while rain fell in Elland, Huddersfield and along the bottom of the Colne Valley, snow was causing chaos for motorists on higher ground.

 The Cabinet’s current policy is either to grit the whole borough or no borough and rain falling on lower ground and in Huddersfield inevitably means no where gets gritted OR they grit everywhere when the problem is really only on higher ground!

 For four years Lib Dem Councillors in the Colne Valley have demanded that the Council introduces a policy of differentiated gritting.  This would involve using available technologies and observations of operatives on the ground to despatch gritting vehicles in line with the current weather conditions in different areas not according to weather conditions based on national weather forecasts.  The current policy clearly does not meet the needs of residents and rural communities especially and should have been changed by now.

I personally spent hours helping motorists near my home over the weekend who had become stranded due to the snow fall.  We have asked time and again that the current policy be changed but to no avail.  Councillor Ridgway and I are once again in the process putting the case for change to the Cabinet members responsible and we encourage all residents affected to do the same.