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07
Jan
When will the district get back to normal after the snow?
Two days after the district’s heaviest snowfall for years, the main roads are passable and most services are running normally. Yet our town centres remain treacherously icy in many places, and many houses off the beaten track are effectively cut off from road network, with frozen snow making housing estates practically undriveable.
As a result, schools across much of the district remain closed and some residents are still housebound.
So just what is being done to alleviate the situation, and when will things change?
According to the map on North Yorkshire Council’s website, council gritters have covered many miles of both primary and secondary routes within the last 10 hours alone, and the process looks set to continue.
But that still leaves hundreds of minor roads ungritted, including town-centre streets, and the hoped-for thaw is not due for some time – the Met Office is currently forecasting that temperatures locally won’t rise above freezing point before midday on Sunday, and may get down as low as minus 7 on Friday morning.
Town-centre businesses
The situation is not going down well with Harrogate’s business community. Matthew Chapman, chief executive of Harrogate BID (business improvement district), told the Stray Ferret:
Whilst we at Harrogate BID totally understand that the challenges faced North Yorkshire-wide have been quite severe over the past 48 hours we have been extremely disappointed with the lack of what feels like statutory services delivered in Harrogate town centre.
The pavements and pedestrian areas have remained full of snow and ice, and mostly untreated. Many of our members have opened to serve our community but have contacted us about the lack of support from statutory services and are concerned for the customers who have ventured out to support the high street.
Our team of two street rangers have done what they can – clearing snow and ice, gritting pathways, de-icing locks, supporting businesses to open – but we really need more support.
Hospital car-park
At Harrogate District Hospital, which on Sunday put out an appeal for 4x4 owners to help healthcare workers get into work, getting around the site is relatively easy now, but there are other related concerns.
A spokesperson told us:
The hospital’s pathways and car-park have and will continue to be gritted and cleared of snow and ice so that visitors and staff can access the hospital. We are expecting further cold and freezing spells this week, so please be careful when travelling either by vehicle or on foot.
Respiratory viruses, such as flu and Covid-19, as well as the high number of injuries associated with the wintry conditions, have added significant pressure at the hospital. This, in common with most, if not all hospitals, has led to long waits in our emergency department, particularly for those requiring admission.
Some schools reopen
After two consecutive snow days, some schools – including Coppice Valley Primary and St Aidan’s High School, both in Harrogate – have said they will reopen tomorrow, but it’s looking increasingly likely that most will remain closed. And in the absence of any significant change in conditions over the next few days, it looks possible that thousands of pupils will not go to school until next week.
We asked North Yorkshire Council what it was doing to help improve the conditions of pathways in the town centre, and to help support schools to reopen.
A spokesperson made no comment, but directed us to the council’s policy on gritting footpaths, and its webpage listing school closures.
Elsewhere on its website, it says:
Our gritting crews are on call 24 hours a day from October to the end of the winter season. They will treat North Yorkshire roads whenever needed.
Remember, gritting does not guarantee an ice-free surface. Traffic needs to drive over a gritted road in order to grind the salt and activate it. Salt alone does not melt snow and ice. We monitor conditions throughout the day and night and adjust our gritting plans as needed.
It looks as if the situation in many areas may only improve once the ice starts to melt. Going by current Met Office forecasts, the thaw looks set to start on Sunday, when temperatures are due to rise to 4 degrees C, and accelerate on Monday, when they could top 10 degrees.
But that could herald the onset of a whole new set of problems, as meltwaters threaten low-lying areas with flooding.
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