Christmas and New Year bin collections

We are getting close to Christmas and the changes to bin collections that causes.

This year Christmas and New Years day are both on a Saturday, and the bank holidays are on Monday and Tuesday.

The plan is to collect Monday and Tuesday routes on the Tuesday and leave other days unaffected.

The full details of other Christmas service changes are on the City Council website.

Full details of waste collection changes:

Regular collection date	Revised collection date
Friday 24 December	no change
Monday 27 December	Tuesday 28 December
Tuesday 28 December	no change
Wednesday 29 December	no change
Thursday 30 December	no change
Friday 31 December	no change
Monday 3 January	Tuesday 4 January
Tuesday 4 January	no change

I think this means most people in King's Hedges are unaffected by the changes this year.

I hope that my picture from last year isn't repeated, but in case it is keep an eye on the City's service updates page for more information.

Snow and ice clearance

A quick post to draw attention to two parts of the City Council website.

Firstly information on what County and City are doing to respond to the weather, and also information on what residents can do is available on the Snow and Ice advice page.

Information on any any City Council service disruption will also be posted on the City website.

We are also using the @camcitco Twitter account to provide some update. The County Council's twitter account also provides updates.

I will copy here the advice on clearing Snow and Ice from the City Council and the national Snow Code:

Tips for clearing snow and ice

The government has issued a snow code about safely removing snow and ice from outside your property, pathways and public spaces. The snow code advises you to:

start early - it is much easier to clear fresh, loose snow compared to ice that has been compacted by people walking on it

not use hot water - it melts the snow, but replaces it with black ice, increasing the risk of injury

use ordinary table salt, ash or sand to prevent ice forming but avoid spreading it on plants or grass

be a good neighbour and help anyone that may not be able to clear snow and ice from their own pathways

If shovelling snow:

think about where you will put the snow so you don’t block paths or drainage channels use a shovel with the widest blade available

make a line down the middle of your path first, so you have a safe surface to walk on - then you can shovel the snow from the centre to the sides

use the sun to your advantage by removing the top layer of snow so sun melts any ice underneath - but you will need to cover any ice with salt to stop refreezing overnight

be careful around steps and steep gradients

You can read more about the snow code on the Directgov website or telephone our customer service centre on 01223 458282.

Gritting Changes in North Cambridge

With Summer barely over I'm afraid the eyes of the County have already started to focus in on Winter as it completes it's review of gritting.

Following on from last years heavy snowfall the County Council has decided to "trim" the Gritting Network as a way of conserving resources and lowering costs. For us in King's Hedges the only change of note is that St. Kilda Avenue (between Campkin Road and King's Hedges Road) has been removed from the gritting network.

Despite the inconvience for local residents it does seem to make sense - both Campkin Road and King's Hedges Road are both to be gritted and these two roads join up a few hundred meters down the road - you can see on the map to the left (where the route is strangely still being highlighted!) that there are alternatives.

Note: Gritting is the responsibility of the County Council, not the City Council - the City Council has offered to make staff who can't do other work available for gritting providing the County provides both the grit and the legal indemnity.

County Council Guidelines on Clearing Snow

To coincide with the disappearance of the snow and ice (at least in Cambridge) the County Council has published some advice on clearing it.

The advice boils down to five "hints";

• take appropriate steps to ensure your own health and safety
• try to avoid piling snow and so as to block or obstruct the footway or road in any way
• use grit form highway grit bins wherever possible
• avoid using water as it may form ice and make the situation more hazardous
• take care to ensure all hand tools are removed from the highway

It's a great shame (but not entirely unexpected) that the County Council, while applauding the efforts of individuals across the County to make their communities safer, feels it is unable to offer something more constructive or definitive in the way of advice due to the legal liabilities it would open the County up to.

Gritting - Update from the County Council

Last night the gritters were out across the County (seen pictured here on Arbury Road) gritting the major routes.

Due to the shortage of supplies, Cambridgeshire County Council now only has 5 days worth of salt left (on the basis of not doing any secondary work), and due to the worsening salt situation in the North of England and Scotland there is every possibility that new salt will need to be directed to those regions first.

On Monday there will be a review of the precautionary gritting regime to ensure that the most essential roads continue to be gritted - new salt deliveries are still expected, but could still be redirected Nationally.

As we saw last year and after the brief freeze in December cold weather damages the surface of roads and creates new potholes as well as making existing ones worse. If you are aware of any problems in your area (or on your daily commute) please notify the County Council via the website or via the contact centre on 0345 045 5212 (contact centre is open 8.00 am-8.00 pm, Monday to Saturday). Cllr Mac McGuire (the Cabinet Member Responsible) has given an assurance that they will be repaired as soon as resources and weather conditions allow.

Christmas eve missed collection

Due to even more snow fall collections had to be suspended on Christmas Eve. Most of King's Hedges has Thursday collections so we were hit by this.

Having checked the Service Updates page at 3:30pm on Wednesday 30th the plan is...

• Black bin collection: it was planned to clear back bins on Wednesday 30th December. If your bin was out and not collected call the City Council on 01223 457000 or 01223 458282
• Green and blue bin collections: will be "collected on their next scheduled collection date, in the week commencing 4 or 13 January", which means if you were due blue and green on Christmas Eve your bin will be collected on Thursday 7th January. This also applies to sacks and boxes.

If you have problems you can put excess waste in the black bin or use the recycling centres, but this is not ideal. Extra recycling can also be put out in your old boxes if you have them.

Sorry for the disruption but controlling a bin lorry on snowy and icy roads is not easy. Every effort was made to collect as much as possible, and the decision to suspend collections was taken very reluctantly indeed.

Tomorrow's scheduled collections are as per usual if the BBC is correct that we will have lots of drizzle and no snow tonight.

(If your collection is Friday remember that it will be delayed to Saturday due to New Years day.)

Snow and City Services

The snow has meant that today's waste collections had to be cancelled. There is also some impact on car parks

Details of the Council's plans can be found on the City Council's website, or by calling 01223 458282.

It looks like today's blue bin and black bin collections will be made on Monday.

Don't forget the changes next week and the week after for Christmas and New Year.

Christmas and New Year Bin Collections 2009 (and snow)

Just in case you missed it and were not aware here are the timings for Christmas and New Year bin collections;

NOTE: Unless your bin collection is on a Friday you will not notice any changes.

For those with a usual collection day of Friday the collection on the 25th December will instead be done on the 28th (Monday) and the collection on 1st January will instead be collected on the 2nd (Tuesday).

If there are problems with snow this year keep an eye on the City Council website for up to date information or call the help desk on 01223 457000 or by email.