Winter’s tale of woe - Camden snow and the ungritted roads

THROUGHOUT the icy conditions which left many side roads in Camden ungritted, residents in Gospel Oak kept getting “reassuring emails” forwarded from our Tory councillor.
He was obviously unaware of the treacherous state of the pavements and the fact that Grafton Road (a major local thoroughfare) and all of the side roads remained very slippy for days.
The emails talked about “priority areas” but Gospel Oak was obviously not one of them. I note that “enforcement” of the parking regulations continued even though many parking bays were covered in snow.
The emails referred to “our winter maintenance plan”. Whatever this contains, it obviously ignores Gospel Oak.
When I could get out I noted that many areas had had their pavements and roads gritted but not Gospel Oak. Queen’s Crescent Market was cleared but this was by stallholders.
If the “winter maintenance plan” does not give priority to our area which has many sheltered housing units and numerous schools perhaps the council could drop off piles of grit which we could use to make our own footpaths safe. We obviously cannot rely on the council to make our area safe.
M R Farrant
Oak Village, NW5