Council Fail, Community Pass II

It was on Tuesday of this week that I posted how the local council here back home were unable to respond to the chaos on residential streets in this area caused by the freeze of thawed snow.

Well today is bin day. However, I walked out to the shops to get some last minute messages, the the temperature was -9c here last night. So the frost was harsh again. The roads were still quite fierce as were the pavements.

Having gone downtown to get some wheaten bread and some other things I returned to find the road had miraculously become less icy than either pavement, in the same conditions of temperature and sunshine. Yes you guessed it the council work lorries were given a gritted road to get to and from their houses while for the last two days local residents have struggled and slipped and slid down the various slopes that make up our roads.

The refuge collectors however are being treated like the Queen with a freshly painted building, no ice on their route.

Council Fail, Community Pass

Once upon a time when I was the age of my nephews the local council here, and indeed the residents were more able to cope with the onset of quite treacherous wintry conditions. Over the past few days we have only had less than an inch of snow on three occasions.

On the previous two occasions this has usually thawed out totally and there have been no issues a couple of hours after even on the residential roads. Today however is different. The snow turned initially to slush, but the temperatures are sub zero later on and the slush has now turned to ice.

Next to my mum's house is a very steep short stretch of hill leading to a T-junction, it is only 2 doors down the road. Mum had already skidded coming round the bends to get here after a morning shopping. And the postman arriving with his second delivery of the day told up that some o the other nearby roads were have cars piled up. So we took the easiest route out to the cemetery to place a wreath on Dad's grave on his birthday.

On our way home we were getting flagged down not attempt to go down the hill. After parking up in driveway I headed straight back to see if there was anything I could do to help. As it was one car had skidded down two car lengths trying to make the junction, another had skidded trying to go around her.

On that hill every year up to this had been a grit bucket. And every year up to this, in these conditions the local residents had sprinkled grit on the top of this hill to enable people to make the junction. What happened just now was that from about four different households came sand, salt, fire ashes, and anything to help get traction under the stuck car, we did end up getting the car up and off the slope. But not before warning several other cars off trying to make their way up.

There are other ways that you can drive from the bottom section around to the area where we live, it was how me and my mother got back. The local police are stretched with so many accidents and so many dangerous roads, but what I saw just now was that the local community are prepared to do their bit to enable to roads to remain passable, if only the council had provided the tools to enable them to do so earlier. There are three hotspots within half a kilometre from here and presently all three have local residents crying out for why the council has removed the grit boxes.

There are times I'm prepared for the worst back in Bathgate, but I rarely have to use the measures I have taken. Our Scottish local councils prepare far better and more effectively than here, at least the community is kicking in to help out as best we can.

Parsley Goes Blue

News from back home is that Alliance Euro Candidate and North Down* Councillor has joined the Conservatives (not quite merged with the Ulster Unionists yet).

I'd been following the news on the Northern Irish blogs when I could during the day, held out a little hope when one story pointed to substantial inaccuracies in a report in the Mirror that he had defected to the Ulster Unionists. Something he refuted on his blog. The only inaccuracy appears to be that it's not the UUs he has joined but their soon to be bride Cameron's Tories. The move comes with speculation that Lady Silvia Hermon upset with the UU and Tory wedding will not be seeking re-selection under that ticket.

Announcing his reasons for the shift to the press Parsley said he saw it as:

"the best means of delivering a shared future and a genuinely new type of politics would be through David Cameron’s Conservative Party."

Personally I don't see Conservative politics as being a new type of politics, especially not one I'd want to see take over in the land, or constituency of my birth. Speaking later on his blog he said:

"With a heavy heart, today I left the Alliance Party. I was, however, delighted to join David Cameron’s Conservative Party, and to become involved in politics at a UK level."

He goes on to say:

"Far from negating my commitment to the causes the Alliance Party believes, my move should be seen as an attempt to drive forward those values. Without the party’s work, in which I have played a small part, on the promotion of issues such as integrated education, costs of division and shared neighbourhoods, it is unlikely the prospective next UK Government would be making any of these issues a priority. I understand that many in the Alliance Party will not share my preference for a Conservative Government after the next General Election, but I trust they will recognise the value of having many core Alliance issues placed high on its agenda for Northern Ireland after it."

It is not just members of the Alliance Party that would look at such a statement with bemusement. I've lived in an council that had Alliance as the largest party (North Down) and in two one by majority one largest party being Conservative (Kingston and again North Down). You know something I don't see how anyone could put core Alliance issues into the heart of a Conservative Government. My views are shared by Alliance leader David Ford:

"There are huge contradictions between the delusions of some Conservatives that think they are anti-sectarian, and the 1950s-style bigotry still coming from Ulster Unionist elements.

"I fear Ian will find this contradiction more and more difficult to live with as time goes on."

As I speculated earlier this year is the time right for the Northern Irish branch of the Liberal Democrats and the Alliance to officially become one. Bring UK-wide Lib Dem politics to Northern Ireland. The Tories are doing it, Labour are considering it. You know if that does happen I'd be tempted to seek selection as the Lib Dem candidate for North Down and show Mr Parsley just what new politics on an United Kingdom wide level really does entail.

*So literally back home.