Praise for Council Workers

12.00.00am GMT Mon 3rd Feb 2003

Cllr Serge Lourie, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition has publicly thanked the Council's staff for their hard work overnight in clearing snow and gritting the roads and pavements.

Speaking at York House, he said: "The Council's staff are doing a tremendous job in difficult conditions."

"This was one of the most severe snow storms I can remember. I should like to thank them publicly on behalf of local residents."

Note for editors:

The Council's gritting vehicles have been working continuously throughout the night covering primary roads, major through routes and known trouble spots.

These roads have received three treatments and are clear although it takes traffic action to work the salt into a brine for rapid clearance.

We have now moved on to the side roads and will be assisting Royal Parks with both Bushy and Richmond Park's which are currently closed.

Our staff and contractors are dealing with footpaths in priority order, clearing town centres, stations, schools, hospitals, old peoples' homes, etc.

We also have sufficient resources to attend to some of the side road footways, however with over 800 km of footways in the borough you will appreciate that even with addiontonal resources, this is a major undertaking.