With heavy snow and higher winds forecast for last night (1/2 December), Thurrock Council’s road gritting teams were fully prepared.
After a busy Wednesday (1 December) where the teams gritted many secondary roads as well as the main routes, snow ploughs were fitted to the grit lorries on Wednesday evening.
They completed three full runs of the five main routes and the ploughs proved very effective at keeping the main roads clear (including the A13).
The teams are currently (8am, 2 December) completing a fourth run.
Snow clearance will resume again this morning and staff from across the Environment Department (including from waste and recycling collection) will be utilised for this as has been done for previous days.
Recycling and waste collections have been suspended for the rest of the week and the council is hopeful they will resume on Monday (6 December) with a fresh start and get everyone back to their normal collection day.
As with previous suspensions the council will accept side waste next week as it is expected additional waste will have been generated.
Cllr Val Morris-Cook, Thurrock’s portfolio holder for Environment, said: “The gritting lorry crews, the street services teams and those drafted in from refuse collection have done a great job.
“I understand that all the major roads in Thurrock are clear and as safe as is possible in these freezing conditions.”
She added: “I would urge everyone who ventures out, whether on foot or by car to take extra care, dress up warm and be prepared.
“I would also like to pass on my personal thanks to all the staff who not only made it in to work, but then went out again to make life safer for our residents.”
Finally, she said: “I would like to thank residents for their patience at this difficult time. I would also ask them to ensure that no general waste is placed in the blue bins contaminating our recycling. We are accepting properly bagged general side waste if it is put out at the usual time next week — weather permitting of course!”
