Angus will not be singling out ‘snow heroes’ for praise in a government scheme that has blown up a bit of a storm.
In January, the government sent an email to the country’s 32 local authorities asking them to put forward staff who have made a special effort in dealing with the snow that all but brought the country to a halt in December.
The intention is to honour workers who battled the elements, particularly those that played a key part in getting schools open.
However, it is understood almost half of the country’s councils including Angus have given a frosty reception to the honours that are to be handed out by First Minister Alex Salmond at an Edinburgh Castle reception.
Angus said it did not think it would be fair to shine the spotlight on individual members of staff when so many were involved in dealing with the chaos of the big freeze.
A spokesperson for the authority said yesterday, “We are not nominating any members of staff to attend this reception as so many of our employees made such strenuous efforts to get to work and to deliver services that it was impossible to single out particular individuals.”
A similar stance is also understood to have been taken by other authorities, such as Glasgow City Council.
Aberdeenshire has indicated its intention to join the event, with a spokesman yesterday confirming the employee who will represent the area.
“Our acting director of education has nominated our Curriculum for Excellence Officer (GLOW), Anna Rossvoll, to attend in recognition of the major contributions which GLOW made to our education provision in December during the severe winter weather,” they said.No nominationPerth and Kinross Council is among those local authorities that have not nominated an individual snow hero for recognition at the awards.
Echoing the position adopted by Angus Council, a spokesman said there had been so much good work done by its staff during the severe weather that it did not want “to narrow it down to one person or single out one individual.”
Council leader Ian Miller has already paid tribute to those staff who went above and beyond to keep the area moving during the worst of December’s snow and January’s storms.
“Our staff have also gone the extra mile to minimise the impact of the snow and ice on the lives of our residents,” Mr Miller said.
“Staff have worked extra hours into the night to keep roads and footways clear, while parking attendants, community wardens and housing staff were redeployed to help clear snow from car parks and areas around care homes.
“Community care workers have ensured that no vulnerable clients were left stranded in their homes without help even when the weather was at its worst. Council staff also ensured that hundreds of people stranded on the M90 were given shelter for the night.
“It has been an incredible effort.”
Dundee City Council is understood to be one of the few local authorities to nominate people to attend the First Minister’s reception.
A spokesman for Dundee City Council said yesterday, “We have put forward the names of staff from various departments for these awards.”