Well it's been an interesting and difficult week in Epsom. Surrey was one of the worst hit places in the country when it came to snow and Epsom was one of the worst hit places in Surrey.
Reports of 5-9 hour journeys to cover relatively short commutes home have been common. The inconvenience and frustration caused has been huge. The burden on our emergency services and local authorities has been massive and their staff have performed commendably.
There is no doubt that the whole country needs to sharpen up its act in relation to extreme winter weather, but the improvements in response this year are to be applauded.
Surrey County Council managed to regularly salt a network of 4,000 miles of priority roads. In Epsom this involved not only those roads designated priority 1, but also those at priority 2. Some difficulty was encountered with grit trucks or snow ploughs struggling to get past abandoned vehicles and heavy traffic, but the routes were covered.
One problem was the sheer amount of snow that fell which meant that roads that had been gritted simply got completely covered giving people the impression that they had never been gritted in the first place.
Another difficulty arose when local sections of motorway were closed by the Highways Agency and Surrey Police because of multiple incidents. This, of course, then put intolerable pressure on smaller roads.
Epsom & Ewell Borough Council had to cancel many services, but kept residents informed of disruption caused and will no doubt be working hard to catch up with services such as waste collection over the coming week.
If anyone in Woodcote and Langley Vale has any particular concerns about the way the snow was dealt with in their area then please let me know.
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