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07
Oct
Transport boss set to reject gritting Lofthouse road he got stuck on
A proposal to include a remote road from Lofthouse towards Masham in the council’s gritting network looks set to be rejected.
A report published ahead of a meeting of North Yorkshire Council's environment and transport bosses on Friday (October 11) responds to calls for roads to be added to the existing gritting routes, which runs from October until the end of the winter.
The Stray Ferret reported on the roads proposed locally at the time, which included Trapping Hill to Pot Moor Road in Leighton, suggested by Nidderdale councillor Andrew Murday.
The road is something of a beast – particularly in the winter – due to how steep and narrow it is.
Roads are graded on a scale of one to three as gritting priorities. Priority one routes include all main roads that connect the county's towns, while priority two routes tend to connect smaller communities.
Both ends of the road are currently in the priority two gritting network, and the middle section is deemed the lowest priority three.
The proposal was to make the entire road a priority two.
Cllr Murday asked for the road to be gritted, but a council officer said at the time the section is “very remote and would not be safe to check or treat due to steep gradient in the middle”.
It would put the drivers at risk, the council officer added.
The recent report reiterates the council’s concerns and suggests the authority does not have sufficient capacity of gritters to add it to the gritting network:
The route requested cannot easily be added to the existing routes that run up to Lofthouse and up to Leighton as there is not sufficient capacity in the gritters to treat this additional section of highway.
Treating roads that connect two valleys would increase the risk of gritters getting into difficulty, the report says, adding this could have a knock-on effect on the rest of the fleet.
It also says the road poses risks to the health and safety of its drivers, adding:
Plus, we do need to consider the health and safety of our drivers.
Also, during snow conditions and given the high altitude of this road, having this section of highway on the priority two network could mean a gritter is tied up trying to keep this section of the network open, to the detriment of the rest of the routes.
Incorporating the route could also require expanding the existing fleet, the report suggests, which would come with associated costs. But it is unclear why this particular route could be more costly to grit than others.
The Stray Ferret asked transport boss Keane Duncan, who got stuck on the ungritted road last winter during his mayoral campaign tour, why it could incur more costs than other routes.
We also asked Cllr Duncan if he feels an impetus to include it in the gritting network, given his own experience on the road. But we did not receive a response at the time of publication.
The Stray Ferret also asked Cllr Murday for his verdict on the report’s recommendations. He said:
The road is narrow, steep and has some very sharp bends. My understanding is that gritting this road would present a danger to gritter crews.
The report recommends the route remains a priority three network, but this will be finalised by the councillors on Friday.
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