Festive Season
For the second year running, we have had a December with ample snow, although this year we did not have a malfunctioning snow machine inCrawleytown centre. It was good to avoid that piece of irony. There can be something magical about a snowscape, especially in parts of the country that wear their covering really well.
Locally we have seen commendable and strenuous efforts at our international airport to keep it open for business during one of its busiest periods. Recent passenger experiences at Gatwick, while impacted, must compare favourably with some of those reported at Heathrow.
The weather poses its challenges and the government are surely right to commission a scientific study to assess how much more likely these conditions are in the future. Our pro-active measures and our reaction in public services are substantially based on risk management. The public sector, in the form of local councils, could keep in place huge numbers of trained staff to cover the clearing of all roads in West Sussex andCrawley, but nobody would want to pay for that.
Instead, the County Council reasonably focuses on a sequence of transport network priorities designed to allow people to get to work in the first place. That means keeping the primary routes clear and then working down from that. AtCrawleyCouncil, we do our best to help within the town, again through a system of priorities. For example, we have had people clearing snow at our sheltered housing schemes, reflecting the need to assist the most vulnerable.
It is natural to redeploy staff who would normally be engaged in refuse and recycling collection and this is what happens. Thinking about it, nobody really wants a 26-ton refuse collection vehicle coming down their icy residential road. An incident with that vehicle could ruin your entire day.
I thank everyone at bothWest Sussexand Crawley Councils for their efforts to keep services running. At the beginning of 2010, there was some criticism about the strength of our reaction, perhaps due to the shock of the weather conditions. That feedback was taken on board and I believe that we can always improve how we respond. Certainly our services at the end of 2010 have been more coordinated and robust.
Whatever the weather, many of us will be looking forward to our festive break. I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Councillor Bob Lanzer, Leader of Crawley Borough Council
21st December 2010