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30/12/2009 by Steve Barclay.
How can we have legislation that deters shopkeepers and residents from being responsible and clearing their local pavements of ice? I raised this last February after being told by a shop keeper in Chatteris that they used to clear the pavement in front of their shop, but could no longer risk doing so. Now the national newspapers are up in arms about it, but it is old news.
Health and safety legilislation currently means responsible shopkeepers clearing the pavement in front of their shop risk being sued if someone falls. The sheer folly of this is starkly clear with the current harsh weather. Pavements are particularly dangerous. We should have agreements with our local farmers who are well placed with tractors to get out and help on our roads and pavements, and earn some money for doing so at a time when working on the farm tends to be quieter.
Bizarrely, the Health and Safety press spokesman has just said that the legislation is necessary because if someone used water to clear a pavement and it froze, then they would need to be liable and open to being sued. What planet are they on. Do they really think shop keepers will go out and put water on the pavement in the middle of winter?
Often people raise issues with me which are not strictly for Parliament, but more for the district or county councils to tackle. This time an issue people often think is for the county council, clearing roads and pavements, actually needs Parliamentary action. Whilst county council highways departments are responsible for local roads, Parliament needs to act to set them, local residents and businesses free from health and safety legislation preventing them clearing ice. They should not have to fight the weather constrained by laws which are counter productive.
On a related note, a thank you to all the staff of the Cambridgeshire Highways Department who have been working extra hours recently. The gritters are out in very difficult circumstances and with so many Fen roads next to waterways and at high risk of accidents, the extra hours the gritters are putting in is saving lives.
Posted in Health & Safety, Chatteris | No Comments »