* Castle Street before the lockdown. |
Denbighshire
County Council is making changes to the way it operates its highways and public
realm functions to continue to provide critical services to residents.
Due to
reductions in staffing levels arising from the spread of coronavirus and the
need to reduce the frequency and duration staff work together, changes have
been made to a number of functions from Monday, March 30, to prioritise
essential highways and street cleansing work.
Highways
Works: All reactive works will be limited to key routes throughout the county.
The type of roads that we will prioritise include main classified routes (A
& B roads); principal bus routes; access routes to hospitals, schools and
cemeteries; access to police, fire, ambulance and rescue services; primary
routes serving substantial villages/communities; main industrial routes that
are important to the local economy and main access routes to shopping areas.
The main focus will involve dealing with potholes and addressing other
associated highways safety issues.
Grounds
Maintenance: All works are to cease as soon as possible, and the existing
workforce will be redeployed to focus on highways reactive works and street
cleansing.
Street
Cleansing: All scheduled cleansing and sweeping works are to cease in order for
priority to be given to the cleansing of town centre areas and main routes.
Normal functions in these areas will continue such as the emptying of litter
bins and general litter picking. Fly tipping requests will be assessed
individually and work carried out only if resources are available and it is
deemed necessary. All priority areas will be regularly inspected and any
necessary work will be carried out on a daily basis.
Gully
Cleansing: Scheduled works will continue on the A road network and emergency
response cover will be maintained at all times. On the forecast of any heavy or
prolonged periods of rain we will check locations that are prone to flooding -
this work will be prioritised when weather conditions require.
Street
Lighting: We will be providing a reduced service in order to be able
respond to issues such as defective lighting and emergency situations requiring
an urgent response such as road traffic accidents and damaged equipment, during
the working day and during out of hours.
Cllr Brian
Jones, the Council’s lead member Waste, Transport and the Environment, said:
“The situation regarding coronavirus is developing rapidly in Wales and the UK
and the Council is adapting to ensure staff safety, to adhere to Government
measures to stop the spread of the virus and to ensure we continue to provide
critical services to the public. To allow us to do this in the most effective
way, we have made a number of changes to the way our highways and public realm
teams operate.
“We accept
that some of these changes will affect the day to day lives of our residents,
but they are essential to maintain core services.
“In adopting
these measures we will provide our workforce with reassurance as they continue
to carry out their roles as well as planning works in a measured and
responsible way which will help maintain our essential functions.
“We would like
to thank members of the pubic for their understanding during this time.”
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