Plans to grit Aberdeenshire pavements later in the day as part of £1m of council cutbacks have been branded “a disaster waiting to happen”.
Under Aberdeenshire Council’s roads winter service review, gritters will not take to the region’s priority footways until after 8am.
Last year, councillors approved a reduction to its winter roads maintenance budget to £4.268m for 2015-16 – with the council electing to cut its treatment to its non-primary roads network by £800,000.
And yesterday, the Garioch area committee discussed the changes to the winter service, with East Garioch councillor, Martin Ford, raising concerns that pathway gritters would be hitting the streets far too late for morning walkers.
The council’s 32-road primary road network will not be affected by the changes, with its resources, availability and response to snowfall “unchanged”.
However, the non-primary road network will not be treated unless sub-zero road surface temperatures or air temperatures below 3C are due to persist for 48 hours.
The treatment of the council’s path network is relatively unchanged, but gritters will not be out in force until after 8am – where they previously began at 5.30am.
East Garioch councillor, Mr Ford, said people walking to work and school before 8am would be affected.
He said: “I can understand in larger settlements, if it is just one person going around (gritting), it is going to take a long time.
“But not starting until after 8am will mean that pavements that were treated before people were out using bus stops or going to schools will now not be treated until after they were out.
“A significant number of people are out before 8am. I just wonder if that staff time might be subject to reconsideration.”
Westhill and District councillor, Iris Walker, said: “I think it is an absolute disaster waiting to happen. People are going to be out and about well before this time.”
West Garioch councillor, Patricia Oddie, agreed 8am was “too late”.
Yesterday council spokesman, Bill Lennox, assured the committee the roads service would still be on 24-hour standby to react to any weather issues.
He added the level of service provided by the council in recent years was “way in excess of what other local authorities do”.
Council co-leader, Martin Kitts-Hayes, added: “I do welcome the changes, I think they are long overdue.
“Although these changes are taking place, there is money in the [council] reserve and always will be to make sure residents of this council are kept safe.”