A Fife Labour MSP has said lessons must be learned from the council’s decision not to clear icy pavements and footpaths last month.
Mid-Scotland and Fife MSP Claire Baker criticised what she called Fife Council’s lack of action as dangerous and also questioned the use of sand instead of salt on certain pavements.
The council defended its performance, saying sensible reserves of salt were kept for priority routes and officers had been congratulated for their work.
But Mrs Baker said it was “very concerning” that pathways remained so icy after the worst of the weather disappeared.
She said, “Lessons clearly need to be learned from this.
“The kind of ice we have seen lately on pavements and paths has really affected people’s daily lives, especially the elderly and disabled.
“For some it was too dangerous to go outside.”
She added, “People are clearly angry and feel that not enough was done to make sure that pavements and footpaths were made safe.
“Fife Council must make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”Leader’s riposteCouncil leader Peter Grant said, “On the very day that Ms Baker was out looking for icy patches to be photographed with, she was unable to come to a meeting in Fife House where all of Fife’s MPs and MSPs were invited to give their comments on how we had coped with the severe weather. “Of those who did attend, everyone, including a Labour MP who lives only yards from where the photograph was taken, commended the way Fife Council had learned the lessons from last winter.”
Mr Grant told The Courier, “Council officials were having to take decisions almost on an hourly basis as to how best to deal with temperatures that were often so cold that salt would have been useless.
“They had to rely on reports from members of the public about which footpaths were still in a dangerous condition.
“It would be very interesting to know when Ms Baker reported this particular path to the council, or indeed whether she ever bothered to report it.”
He added, “Council officers learned from the experiences of last year and kept a sensible reserve of salt to make sure that critical routes, such as hospital access roads, could be kept open, even if the promised deliveries didn’t appear.
“We also saw a vastly improved performance at keeping grit bins topped up so that local residents could make sure that the routes they needed to use were kept safe an approach that Ms Baker publicly supported in at least one local paper.”
While admitting more still needed to be done, especially with main footpaths that do not run alongside priority roads, Mr Grant said, “Things would have been much worse if we had listened to Labour in Fife who repeatedly opposed our decision to increase our salt stocks ahead of this winter.”