Gritting response defended

Plea to use bins

North Lanarkshire Council has defended the amount of grit bins across Airdrie and Coatbridge following complaints over the treatment of roads and pavements during recent wintry weather.

The local authority is also asking residents to help “keep streets clear” by using the hundreds of grit bins placed around Monklands when colder conditions lead to snow and ice.

A council spokesperson said: “We cannot treat all roads and footpaths, so we operate a priority system to treat all ‘A’ and ‘B’ roads, main distributor roads, main roads around schools, major bus routes, town centres, access roads to hospitals, ambulance depots, and key police and fire stations.

“This priority system lets us keep the main routes through North Lanarkshire clear, allowing vehicles to link to the wider trunk road and motorway network and people to access public transport services locally and towns and cities further afield.

“We have over 2400 grit bins across North Lanarkshire and ask local people to use these to help keep residential streets clear, allowing them to reach the main roads and paths which have been treated by our gritters.”

Residents can find out where their nearest grit bin is by using the online facility on the council’s website at www. northlanarkshire. gov. uk/ index.aspx?articleid=20161

People are also able to request a new grit bin, or for an existing one to be refilled, by phoning Northline on 01698 403110 or alternatively emailing via the above website.