Here we go again (6 January).

Just as I thought that Hackney may have got their act together on this freezing pavement issue, and that we could concentrate on other matters of interest to the parish, it starts snowing again, predicted several days ago. So why were the pavements still not sanded? People have been falling over all day on the side roads, and others I know have been sliding over in flagship Church Street. Also, the first gritter of the year was spotted this afternoon in the High Street, pointlessly, and to the sardonic amusement of passers-by, gritting a street on which the snow had already melted. 

This must be Hackney's celebration of the much touted Council Tax Freeze (which, incidentally, seems to have resulted in the withdrawal of benefits, health support and accommodation to some of the most deprived people in our parish. We will shortly have on this website full details about the ways in which Hackney Council have cut back so much on their funding to local charities that the poor and homeless of our little paradise are going to have to start looking after themselves. Still, a Tax Freeze should make them feel better about everything. Hungrier and colder, but proud to be part of such an efficient borough. Maybe we should have an Olympics Freeze, and divert some of this Council money in the direction of those who badly need it. Just when you think the Borough is improving...

EARLIER STORY FOLLOWS HERE

No-one expects the Council to have a permanent fleet of snow ploughs or a full-time team of gritters and sanders, but surely they could have sanded the streets and pavements - particularly the pavements - in advance of these bad but well forecasted conditions. It can't be that difficult to hire a couple of trucks and buy in a few tons of sand for an overnight exercise. It would have given work to unemployed people and seriously helped the hazardous conditions. Walking along Brooke Road a few minutes ago (late December) I saw people badly lose their balance, and two people slipped and fell. Bones could be broken, and even worse. In Islington yesterday (no paradise for people trying to negotiate the treacherous pavements) I noticed that the Council had placed sand in metal containers on many streets. Let the people do it, as they do in Michigan, Wisconsin and so many other places, and the people are happy to do this. 

Not in Hackney, whose Council do not seem to give a toss. Maybe because it has nothing to do with the Olympics or any of their other daft, self-serving and vote attracting ideas which have no impact on the well-being of the inhabitants of the Borough. Just as it appears that they are getting the idea, they reveal themselves in their true colours. Yours, with a badly-bruised arse and a renewed sense of despair with our elected local authority.

Postscript. I have just been informed by an old friend of mine that Church Street pavements were sanded last Thursday. Over four days ago. This is one of the streets in the Borough which, given the number of people who walk up and down it and help the de-icing by their mega-prams, probably needs sanding least. However, the Council is obviously doing something, but selectively and not enough. My particular observations are a) it would be Church Street, where the wealth in this Borough is largely concentrated (not that I have anything against Church Street, but it's a fact), b) why four days ago, when the weather was relatively mild and c) why were some of the other main streets, whose inhabitants' propensity to spend is often limited by their relatively marginal access to the folding stuff and therefore, it could be argued, less of a potential contribution to the Borough's coffers, seemingly left to fend for themselves in rather more inhospitable environments than the Church Street jewel in the crown? Only asking, and the bruise in my arse is slowly improving, if anyone is interested.  

Post-postscript (and my final word on this, as I'm sure you'll be pleased to know). The first para was written on Monday afternoon during the heavy snowfall, the second bit last evening and I'm writing this Tuesday late afternoon. This morning, while the airwaves were buzzing with the incompetency of local councils in not gritting the pavements and a Guardian editorial stated 'they (the councils) got one big thing wrong by forgetting about pedestrians. Surely gritting the pavements should have equal priority?', I spotted about two Hackney Council employees dropping, in a very bored and desultory manner, a few handfuls of sand on selected bits of pavements. The hazardous state of the pavements, however, had hardly changed from last night and remained potentially lethal, particularly to older people.The Council just don't listen, and I am rapidly revising my previous increasingly favourable view of Jules and his staff. They do not care about the people who put them where they are and they clearly do not understand or pay any attention to the essential nature of democratic accountability. 

End of rant

Rab MacWilliam