There was great controversy earlier this year when the county’s systems broke down – not just in relation to gritting but also in terms of communications about school closures.
Updated winter communications for Hertfordshire now in place
With winter on its way, and following last year’s severe weather, Hertfordshire Highways’ fleet of 61 gritters has been on standby since the beginning of October.
A major part of recommendations of the Scrutiny Topic Group into Winter Maintenance concerned communications, notably with partners such as transport operators, other councils and public services, and especially schools. All the actions from the topic group due for this winter season are now complete, with communication links having been tested in dry run exercises.
Another key element of the recommendations has been to improve access to online winter service information to the general public. The winter service section of Hertsdirect has been updated and reorganised to provide better access to information such as winter driving tips and advice, salt bin locations and salting routes, details of salting “decisions” (notification of when gritters will be sent out) and a variety of other information. The link to the updated website is: http://www.hertsdirect.org/envroads/roadstrans/highways/hhonlineservices/saltingroutes/
Children Schools and Families will also introduce a new text-based system this winter enabling schools to text information on whether they are open directly to the front page of Hertsdirect, which will run alongside the current “drive time” announcements run by local radio stations.
Snow clearing from pavements
To counter inaccurate reports last winter that people who cleared snow from their pavement could be sued if someone subsequently injured themselves, Hertfordshire Highways has taken legal advice which states that you can clear the pathway in front of your home if you wish to do so. If anyone injures themselves, then liability rests with Hertfordshire County Council as the statutory highways authority.
However, if the footpath is your own, or is on land you own (for example, your driveway, patio or pathway), and it is not classified as a highway adopted by Hertfordshire Highways, you as the owner of that footpath would be liable for any failure of care if anyone injures themselves on it.