Local authority gritting teams working night and day and on weekends to clear roads and pavements are just a few examples of the outstanding lengths that Welsh council workers have gone to over the last few weeks to keep Wales moving, communities safe and to keep frontline services operational.
Across Wales, there are scores of examples of vulnerable people including the elderly, disabled residents and people in need of urgent medical help being reached thanks to the help of their local council.
In education, many councils have mobilised staff and volunteers within the community to keep school grounds clear for pupils to sit important examinations.
WLGA Leader, Cllr John Davies, whose own authority (Pembrokeshire) has been acutely affected by the snow said:
“Frontline services including social services and education have remained operational because of the dedication and determination of council workers and volunteers to continue to provide them for local people by working around the clock and in some of the worst weather conditions to hit Wales in over 30 years. Across Wales there are scores of examples of council workers, community volunteers and local authority partner organisations joining forces to maintain services and reach vulnerable people.
“As is often the case, despite their continued efforts, local authorities have been the target of criticism including complaints about refuse collections. Any decision taken by a council to delay or cancel a refuse collection would have been made on health and safety grounds or where staff had been diverted to deal with other more urgent snow related issues. Where the weather and health and safety have allowed it, councils have continued to provide as many of their refuse services as possible with many crews working weekends to catch up on missed collections.
“There are lessons to be learnt from the past few weeks but undisputedly council workers have shown that even when presented with the most difficult of circumstances they are committed to pulling out all the stops to limit disruption for their communities. As Wales now begins to get back to normal, it is important that their efforts are recognised. Over the last few weeks the whole emphasis has been teamwork and responding to important calls for help and Welsh councils have more than delivered.”
Here are some examples of council workers’ efforts to maintain services and to reach vulnerable people.
Gritting roads, snow clearing, employee hours
Over the last 3 week period, councils have spread approximately 12,000 tonnes of salt per week. This is more salt than what they would have usually spread in 3 months during an average Welsh winter.
From 30 November to 6 January, gritting teams in Blaenau Gwent covered 14,387km of road alone – the equivalent of 27.25 trips to and from London. A gritting contractor for the authority carried out approx 500 ploughing hours up to 5th January. Estimated employee hours for the authority up to 5th January were 4,300.
In Newport grounds staff were redeployed to help with snow clearing at key locations such as residential homes. Brine sprayers were also used in areas such as the city centre by workers on quad bikes.
Gritting teams across many authorities including Cardiff have worked night and day, and on weekends, to clear roads and pavements.
Staff with Cleaner Cardiff showed great commitment and determination when they continued to grit around adult centres and care homes, improving accessibility and making sure care for the elderly was not hampered in any way. When grit supplies ran low, sand was brought in to make sure efforts were maintained. Similar work was carried out around the clock outside all the city’s major venues, including the New Theatre and St David’s Hall.
Many council leaders, including WLGA Leader (Pembrokeshire) have been providing hands on support by helping to clear roads using JCB’s.
Teams across Wales have been working closely with funeral directors to clear roads around cemeteries for funerals to proceed and clearing access to doctor’s surgeries.
Social Services
Wardens for Brecon Beacons National Park Authority have been reaching some of the most isolated residents in Brecon, Llangorse, Talybont, Sennybridge and Defynnog with Meals on Wheels despite many of the roads being virtually impassable. Wardens and volunteers have also been checking on vulnerable people who have been left extremely isolated. National Park Wardens have also been on standby throughout the week to assist Dyfed Powys Police officers with 4×4 vehicles to access some of the more remote locations in the National Park.
In South East Wales, all of the Vale of Glamorgan’s six care homes have been fully operational, with staff coming to work with over night bags prepared to sleepover, knowing they would not be able to get home at the end of their shift. Night staff have come on shift early to enable day staff to get home if they have young families. Managers and staff have changed the care homes that they normally work in so that they could get into work and support vulnerable people. Some staff with 4×4 vehicles have pooled cars and picked up colleagues who would have struggled. Other staff have walked for up to two hours to get into work.
Similarly in Flintshire, a number of staff in care homes and supported living have worked double shifts, staying on over night in case other staff could not get in to work. Staff with 4×4 vehicles have also collected care staff not able to get out in the snow to their place of work.
Across Flintshire, people in most need have been prioritised for visits over the last few weeks and hundreds of phone calls and visits have been made to ensure urgent need is met. All of the council’s social care services have remained open and functioning during this period.
Flintshire Homecare assistant Wendy Davies from the Holywell locality drove up a lane at 9.30pm in the snow to reach a gentleman. She became stuck in the snow, she sought to dig herself out but when she could not, she left her car and walked the long walk up the lane in the dark to carry out her duties, she then walked back home approx 3 miles.
In Pembrokeshire the council has been working in partnership with the Health Trust (Hywel Dda) to deliver urgently required prescriptions to residents by using 4×4 vehicles.
In some cases council workforces have been involved in ‘life or death’ situations, such as in Caerphilly where the council’s help enabled emergency services to access critically ill residents. One such case was in Hollybush where an elderly gentleman with a heart defect needed immediate treatment, but his rural property was completely snowed in. Staff from the authority’s highways team carved a path through the snow with a JCB in order to allow essential medical supplies through.
Another case involved a teenager from Aberbargoed who was suffering from a series of fits, but his parents couldn’t get their vehicle out of the snow, nor could an ambulance get to the house. Again the council was on hand swiftly to clear a route to the property which enabled the ambulance crew to attend and get the youngster to hospital.
In Newport, a St David’s hospice nurse walked a mile along snowy and icy streets to provide night care for a terminally ill patient.
Council drivers in Newport also used 4x4s to transport meals on wheels to the homes of elderly and disabled residents
In Ceredigion there are many examples of home carers walking up to 3 miles beyond the point that a 4X4 vehicle could take them to reach vulnerable clients in remote locations.
Also in Ceredigion, examples of residential home staff sleeping in to ensure residents are cared for.
Domiciliary Care providers in Wrexham have pulled out all the stops to maintain services. In Wrexham 80% of Domiciliary Care services are in the independent sector and they have done a excellent job in maintaining services
Cardiff’s Meals on Wheels service also continued to operate on every working day throughout the wintry conditions. Staff battled through the snow and ice and with the help of 4x4s, provision was kept at the highest standard.
Education
Coed Eva Primary school in Torfaen put an appeal on their Facebook page for parents and members of the community to come and help them clear the school grounds on Wednesday – they had a great response and the school was open on Thursday
Despite heavy snow fall across the county, all examinations scheduled for Monday 11th January went ahead in Merthyr Tydfil and in the interest of public safety exams scheduled to take place in four high schools were rapidly rescheduled to take place in one central location (Merthyr Tydfil College in the town centre). Pupils experiencing difficulties in getting to the college as a result of the bad weather were asked to contact an emergency helpline and 4×4 vehicles were mobilised by the council to transport them to the college.
Neath Port Talbot has been thanked for the “great service” it provided” to a local taxi firm which transported pupils to and from school when the school bus had a puncture. In a letter to the council the driver wrote:
”I had a problem last evening and took until 5.45pm to get some of the Afan college students home because their bus had a puncture. We ended up ferrying the students in cars from the cimla which was quite bad with snow. Your team were there to help and advise us and helped by letting the parents know what was going on. The team have been in touch since 6.55am this morning to advise us of closures and it was this service that prompted me to write to you. I know as a contractor that communication is vital and would like to think that we work along side the authority to provide the best service we can for the clients we transport. The service you provide to the operators is second to none and therefore I had to write to you today to thank you for the great team you have.”
Snow clearing teams in Newport went to secondary schools early in the morning to ensure pupils were able to take external exams
Teachers in Ceredigion have stayed overnight near the school location in order to open up schools for pupils to sit examinations
Foster carers and council staff in Ceredigion ensured that a ‘Looked After’ child could attend school to sit exams
