When Councillor Charles Dundas forwarded us a list of grit-bin locations in the City Centre ward on 6 December (Breaking news 6.12.10), we assumed that similar lists would soon be forthcoming from City of Edinburgh Council for other wards partially covered by the Spurtle: Leith Walk, Leith and Inverleith.
We had underestimated the capacity of a bureaucracy to make something seemingly straightforward mind-bendingly difficult.
Yesterday, 9 days after our original request, a CEC official emailed us: 'We don't have a list that I can give out of grit bins that is used easily by the public. We are hoping to create one for future use'.
Spurtle pushed for clarification. The official explained that 'thousands of locations exist on an enormous database' from which it is either impossible or too time-consuming to extract details. There is therefore no single list. It would be too difficult for members of the public to use the database and 'impractical' for a trained operative to answer individual enquiries from the public. Perfect Sir Humphrese.
Given that CEC exhort the public to take responsibility for clearing pavements, by using grit-bins, CEC's attitude to telling us where the bins are is intolerable. Spurtle has some questions:
- What is the point of a database from which one cannot extract information?
- Are there really 'thousands' of grit-bin locations complicating our request? Councillor Dundas's list for the City Centre comprised a mere 65, and Spurtle was interested in only 3 more wards.
- Why had no up-to-date list of grit-bins been compiled well in advance of this year's winter weather?
- Without a list, how do CEC employees themselves know where the bins are in order to refill them promptly? Are the grit-bins promptly refilled?
- Without a list, how do CEC expect the public to find grit bins, especially those obscured by thick snow?
- Do CEC trust us with this information? Are grit-bins perhaps vital to the US's national interests?
- Hope is a fine thing and so is the future. But by what specific date will CEC create and make publicly available an easy-to-use list? Now (or 9 days ago) is when we need it, not next summer.
We realise that many CEC employees are currently working flat out for our benefit. Even so, this debacle reeks of fudge and incompetence, and we said as much.
Several hours later we had just finished drafting a more ascerbic version of this article when a minor 'miracle' occurred. As if by magic, the City Centre/Leith Neighbourhood team contacted Spurtle to say they will supply salt/grit to local residents/communities who wish to undertake snow and ice clearing in their locality. Where possible they will clear piles of snow and ice created.
Interested parties should phone 529 3717 with details of where they intend to clear, and a suggestion for where salt/grit can be left. (Dump locations need to be accessible to a large lorry.)
We are grateful to CEC for this initiative, just as the thaw sets in.
Two more questions suggest themselves:
- Why are these site-specific grit deliveries necessary if 'thousands' of filled grit-bins already exist?
- If extra supplies of grit are necessary, why can't CEC use the 'thousands' of existing grit bins to clear a way through for delivery lorries?
Readers will draw their own conclusions.