Big freeze causes £1.5m worth of roads damage
DAMAGE to roads and paths caused by the recent big freeze has left East Dunbartonshire Council facing a whopping £1.5million repair bill.
Extensive work will have to be done to replace cracked and crumbled carriageways and potholed pavements.
And a meeting of the council's development and infrastructure committee this week heard that it will take around 1million to repair roads and 500,000 to mend paths.
The huge bill comes as the authority was facing up to making 8million worth of savings in its budget for the year ahead.
In order to foot the bill, Tuesday night's meeting heard that a number of projects — worth 321,000 — will have to be shelved.
These include traffic calming measures in Bearsden on Stockiemuir Road near Mosshead Primary School, on Canniesburn Road near Colquhoun Park Primary and on Ledcammeroch Road.
A council spokesman said: "We face a huge repair task to mend roads and footpaths after the retreating snows and ice have revealed the substantial amount of damage caused by the recent severe adverse weather.
"As inspection teams assess the scale of the repair task ahead, initial estimates suggest immediate short term expenditure of around 1.5million will be required to address carriageway and footway defects. There is also potential for additional longer term investment requirements.
"And, while there has been a recent improvement in weather, there remains a significant element of the winter period yet to come with the usual on-going roads and footpaths treatments required and during which further spells of adverse conditions may arise."
Councillor Billy Hendry, convener of the development and Infrastructure committee, said: "We would ask both drivers and pedestrians in the area to be patient as we address the problems left by the snow and ice.
"The severity of the weather, in terms of very low temperatures sustained over a significant period of time, accompanied by intensive freeze thaw action, has resulted in significant damage to the road and footway network across East Dunbartonshire.
"The recent spell of severe adverse weather, which started prior to the festive break, has been the most significant and extended period in recent history with the Met Office reporting it as the worst since 1981.
"I can assure the people of East Dunbartonshire that we will be working hard to assess, identify, and carry out these repairs as quickly as possible.
"It will be an expensive exercise but we need to make sure the roads and pavements are safe. It will mean hard work in identifying what projects can be delayed or what planned works can be put back, but we have little option but to get on with the repairs."
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Weather for Milngavie
Sunday 05 February 2012
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 1 C to 7 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: -1 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 5 mph
Wind direction: East
