Letter: Council Spending
Below is a letter to the editor sent by David Gartside from Greenfield. I’ve reproduced the letter in full. If you would like to respond to the points made, you can either leave a comment below this post, or send an e-mail by clicking on the Contact option at the top of this page. If you would like an e-mail published on this website then please mark it as a letter to the editor, and I’ll be happy to do so.
“Those of us who remember the halcyon days of the Saddleworth Urban District will know that the lanes were left to accumulate the autumn leaf fall, much to the delight of leaf-kicking children (and dads and grandads!).
“Now even the quietest lanes have a weekly visit from the noisy Oldham Council sweeper. Presumably, when quickly full, it makes a lengthy trip to some disposal point? Why do we need this pointless service?
“Let nature take it’s course with the autumn fall and abandon this example of wasteful spending by OMBC.”
David Gartside
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
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Unfortunately in the litigation culture we live in the council have a duty of care to the residents of Oldham to maintain the safety of the highways. This includes gritting the roads and clearing the fallen leaves, especially from the road gullies to prevent flooding of the roads.
I tend to agree with Mr Gartside, in these times of austerity spending money to clear leaves seems wasteful. However, I suspect that the Council have been previously hit for compensation claims due to not having cleared away wet leaves – a quick google search reveals lots of ‘no win no fee’ firms willing to take up such cases. In times gone by no one would have even considered making such a claim, so the council of the day wouldnt have needed to send round the sweepers. You might have heard that Lord Young recently published his review on Health & Safety and that he cites many of the ridiculous rules on today’s compensation culture….click on the link. It will be interesting to see if councils and businesses are brave enough to start challenging some of these spurious claims, and maybe one day we can start kicking those leaves again!!