Since last November I have helped around 75 people living in the Colinton/Fairmilehead Ward. By far the biggest issue has been the state of our pavements and roads generally, and specifically the ability of the Council to keep them clear of snow and ice.

In general, the gritting team does realise that the Colinton/Fairmilehead Ward is the highest in the city and should be prioritised, but I do have to keep nagging them! The Officer managing the city confirmed:

“The SW of the City tends to freeze before any other City areas and we will usually concentrate resources there on marginal nights with loaded patrols, gritters patrolling and treating where needed.”

The gritters do, however, focus on Priority 1 routes (I asked for comments on these before Christmas via my Facebook page). Other roads are treated during normal working hours and only when all the Priority 1 routes have been covered. My observation is that, with resources being so tight, little is getting done outside the Priority 1 routes.

A problem we had in Colinton/Fairmilehead over the past week is that quite a lot of the Grit Bins were depleted in December and there has been no refill since. I’d encouraged people to request refills and grit the public paths where they lived, but I am now getting told by residents that there is no grit!

Officers say:

“We are currently getting all grit bins across the City checked and refilled. There are about 2400 of them and we find it much more efficient to check and fill on planned routes rather than respond reactively and individually. We also need to fill the bins before the salt is needed, rather than wait until someone reports it after going to use it and finding it empty!”

I accept what they say about not reactively filling bins, but taking over two weeks to check them in a problem area of the city is not great either! I have now been assured that the filling of grit bins is being reviewed. Where residents have requested an additional grit bin, I have also urged the Council to meet these requests ASAP!