I've been lazy over Christmas - spending time with family and friends and not worrying too much about the Council which always seems to go to sleep for a couple of weeks! Although I did get a call from someone on Xmas Eve - luckily it wasn't urgent!
Before Xmas though we were all hugely busy! The worst thing was the failure of heating on West End Sidings estate which involved many phone calls and furious emails until it all got finally sorted out and all residents got their heating back.
One piece of news that won't have made local residents happy was that planning permission for the new development on Maygrove Road was approved. I spoke up to voice the objections of local residents, and Russell Eagling who is also on the Development Control Committee voted against, but everyone else was in favour. We still think its just too big!
Before, during and after Christmas we have been bombarded with emails, texts and updates from Camden to tell us what they are doing during the bad weather. They have been doing their best - we know there have been complaints about the side streets but they have to concentrate on the main roads first! My local grit box has been filled and emptied several times! Here is the message that was issued late yesterday:
The Met Office is currently forecasting 2-5 cms of snow to fall across the borough from 9pm tonight, continuing into the early hours and throughout Wednesday.
Maintenance crews will start pre-gritting priority main roads and bus routes from 7pm this evening, after the rush hour. Pavements in high footfall areas such as town centres, hospitals, doctors’ surgeries, schools and tube stations will be gritted from 5pm this evening. All this is in line with our winter maintenance plan.
Further bad weather is predicted to last throughout the week and we have 200 staff on standby to enable us to respond with every resource at our disposal to minimise disruption.
We currently have 300 tonnes of grit salt at our Camley Street site and expect a delivery of a further 200 tonnes shortly.
We will be issuing messages on our website for residents to take care when using the roads and pavements and to only make car journeys that are absolutely necessary to allow our gritters to lay further grit on priority routes.
Parking enforcement is taking place as normal across the borough but this situation will be reviewed regularly. If the situation warrants the suspension of parking enforcement we will update you and our website as soon as we can.
Four schools across the borough, Eleanor Palmer, Jack Taylor, Carlton and Cobden were closed today due to heating problems but these have now been resolved. Should the adverse weather conditions lead to school closures tomorrow updates will be posted on our website.
Adult social care managers have implemented plans to ensure home care and other services for vulnerable people continue if there is disruption.
Our priority for housing estates is to grit pathways and walkways as most roads in estates are not priority routes. All requests for gritting pathways and walkways in estates should be made to district housing offices.
We will place up to date information about how services are affected on our web site so please check this regularly.
A news item was sent to staff today saying it will be business as usual and that they are expected to travel to work as long as it is safe to do so. A message is also being left on the staff information line. If there is disruption to the transport system many staff will be able to work from home.
Meanwhile Camden was on TV! Not Fortune Green but Grange Park. The outdoor gym was featured on the Breakfast Show on Jan 4th - encouraging residents to get out and work off all their Christmas indulgences! Local resident Grace Auguste who is a"motivator" (ie someone who encourages others to use the equipment properly) was interviewed by the BBC reporter. It was very cold - but before the snow - don't think anyone will be using it in this weather!
Anyway - Happy 2010 to everyone! Except the person who stole my daughters bag on Jan2nd!
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