Village Salt Spreader Sale - 10 April 2019
Wednesday 10 April 2019 7.30 pm
St Julian’s Church
Extra Ordinary Meeting
Minutes
78. Attended by: Cllrs Fay Moon (Chairman), Gill Stewart (Vice Chairman), Chris Raynor, Paul Willoughby, Hannah Walker, Keith Robson, Steve Tyerman David Gilmour.
79. Apologies: Apologies received from Cllr Sue Olivant.
80. Meeting called to discuss Salt Spreader owned in (majority) part by Parish Council: Cllr Robson called an extra ordinary meeting to put forward a case to not sell the gritter at the current time (before the disposal went through) to then revisit the decision when full information is available, to ensure the situation was fully understood before proceeding - Summary presentation given regarding the background:
Keith Olivant had recently approached the Parish Council and said he would be able to undertake gritting with the gritter on behalf of the Parish Council.
LCC Highways/legal/Network Resiliance Team had said they were in the process of preparing information to advise Parish Councils of the rules surrounding gritting but this has not yet been made available. Cllr Robson suggested that as we were not yet in full possession of the facts, then we should delay the sale decision until LCC had produced their advice - given that the gritter is an important asset for the village as a whole.
Resilience had previously stated there were a number of Health & Safety issues regarding the use of the gritter on public roads. It was queried if these were genuine issues or the local authority were simply making an issue for no reason. It was thought that LCC was trying to avoid Parish Councils being sued if an accident occurred on a road they had gritted (or had not gritted when it was expected to be gritted).
It is expected that any contractor performing the gritting would have public liability insurance and so this would provide cover if claims were made.
It is understood that in 1977, a case went to the High Court whereby it was suggested roads should not be salted - as the grit may cause someone to fall or crash by slipping on the grit itself. The High Court threw out the case stating that anyone going out after a frost should reasonably be expected to be aware of the weather conditions and take care extra themselves.
Cllr Robson believes the LCC team information will help clarify the situation.
It was suggested that, rather than sell the gritter now, the Parish Council should wait until after all of the facts had been presented by LCC and then make a decision. There is space to store the gritter in its present location and the weather at this time of year means there is currently no demand for gritting. So there is no need to rush.
Cllr Moon stated that she had received additional information from LCC today but she was unwilling to present the information until after a vote had been taken to proceed with sale at this time or not.
Cllr Robson proposed the sale be held until such time as the full facts were known.
Seconded: Cllr Walker.
Cllrs voted as follows: Support for the motion, 4 votes. Against the motion, 3 votes. Abstain, 1 vote.
The decision was therefore to hold the sale until such time as the full facts were known.
Action: Include sale of gritter on Agenda again, once LCC have produced definitive guidance.
81. Additional Information received from LCC team:
Cllr Moon presented the additional information received from LCC.
In response to an enquiry regarding the usage of the Salt Bins on public roads. Response: Individual salting of footways or small scale gritting on roads does not constitute the Parish Council or an individual taking on the responsibility for gritting the Highway. So formal rules regarding gritting do not apply.
In response to a request for further advice regarding the use of the Parish Council gritter on the Highway. Response: Clear advice will be available by winter season 2019. LCC also highlighted the likely requirement that the gritter will need to be properly and regularly calibrated to ensure it dispenses the correct amount of salt.
82. Meeting Closed: 8.17pm.
Cllr Gill Stewart, Chairman 03.07.2019