Council criticised for 'unacceptable' ice clearing

A North Yorkshire MP has called for a council to "do more" to clear town centre footpaths of ice and snow, after traders described their efforts as "unacceptable".

Harrogate BID said businesses, particularly in retail hospitality, had been "massively affected" since the weekend's heavy snowfall.

Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Tom Gordon said "half the town centre" remained iced over.

North Yorkshire Council said it was working "around-the-clock" and using extra resources to clear footpaths in the town, describing conditions as "the worst since the Beast from the East in 2018".

Gordon said: "Half of Harrogate town centre is really snowed and iced under, particularly the footpaths.

"There's still a lot more to be done and we know other places around the local authority and county are now free of ice and snow.

"Additional resources should be deployed to help clear-up Harrogate town centre in particular."

Harrogate BID manager, Matthew Chapman, added: "Retail hospitality has been affected massively, footfall is down around 75%, spending is down an incredible amount, and its been really difficult in a time when businesses are already struggling".

Responding to the criticism, Keane Duncan, the council's executive member for highways and transport, described the clean-up operation as a "bit of a thankless task".

He said the snow and freezing temperatures had made the work of council teams "really tough" with "little positive impact made".

Mr Duncan said an ongoing operation to clear the ice and snow already involved extra resources.

He said: "We've diverted extra manpower now. We've got our waste operatives and our parks and grounds team supporting operations.

"Our crews are working round-the-clock across our vast rural county to deal with snow, ice and freezing temperatures as low as -12C."

However, he said the sub-zero temperatures had been "so extreme that the effectiveness of salt on roads and footpaths has been impacted".

A council spokesperson said people should "take care" as the cold spell continued and thanked the public "for their understanding".

Earlier this week the UK recorded its coldest night of this winter, with an amber cold health alert in place for all of England until 09:00 on Tuesday.

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