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[08/01/2010] Big Freeze: Gritters put in the hours to keep Dorset moving

THE MOST important commodity in Bournemouth right now is piled high in a hangar in Southcote Road.

Our grit mountain (200 tonnes and about to grow by another 120) looks like brown sugar and smells like it too, thanks to the black molasses that have been added to give it super sticking power.

This pile – and the gallant council workers who have cancelled their holidays and given up their days off to spread it on the pavements and roads – is all that stands between normality and a nightmare of ice-sheet streets, closed shops, crashed buses and the suspension of life as we know it.

And with the Arctic conditions predicted to continue, the council has completely re-ordered its day-to-day operations.

Road-sweeping and much of the dustbin collection is suspended. “There’s no point in brushing up grit on pavements when we’ve just put it down,” says Street Services Manager Larry Austin, who is working 14-hour days (starting at 5am) to help co-ordinate the campaign.

Where refuse can be collected safely, it will be but council spokesman Rachael Mills points out: “Sometimes it’s not safe to have 26-tonne carts on the roads. As the days go on, the problem gets bigger and more and more people are having their collections suspended.”

The council is making strenuous efforts to collect from those who missed out over Christmas. “We are asking everyone else to take their bin back in and put it out the following week with the extra bags which we will take then,” says Rachael.

“Hopefully people will realise it isn’t a disaster if they have to stockpile a bit of extra rubbish.” As she points out, with the temperatures in people’s wheelie bins probably lower than in their fridge, the danger of smells is very remote.

Not that binmen are twiddling their thumbs.

“Refuse collectors are quite multi-skilled so we’ve got them dealing with other weather emergencies, or out gritting the pavements.”

One thing they won’t be doing is driving a gritting lorry, however. “You need a separate qualification for that.”

The council has three gritters and one which suffered a major breakdown on Thursday was swiftly replaced with a vehicle from Gloucestershire.

“We’ve also hired extra flatbed lorries to load up the grit to be spread it in key locations, which includes hospitals, surgeries, social centres, shops and at the cemetery,” she says.

Keeping the roads ice-free is the core task and in that, Area Manager Street Services Stuart Best is helped by a sophisticated piece of software linked to a commercial weather forecasting and management service.

“We don’t just watch the BBC and look at the Met Office site,” jokes Stuart, flicking through the computer programme.

It’s all linked to sensors in various locations, including on the Wessex Way near Fitness First and on the Cooper Dean flyover.

These sensors give two-minute updates which are automatically plotted against the 24-hour forecast.

It’s about as far from seaweed and Michael Fish than you can get and absolutely fascinating to watch the data come in.

“From this we can make the decision to grit and at what time,” says Stuart. This is vital to help maximise and conserve money and resources.

No one believes the grit will run out and they are confident they can keep the town’s most important thoroughfares safe for travel.

So if you get out and about this weekend, spare a thought for the people who made it possible. Until the Big Thaw, their work will go on, all day and all of the night.

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