A LACK of gritting on a busy road to a borough industrial park has focused attention today on the borough's readiness to combat a cold snap.

Thurrock Nub News was on hand to witness significant problems for large vehicles attempting to enter and leave the Stanhope industrial estate in Stanford-le-Hope this morning (Monday, 8 February).

The estate can only accessed by Wharf Road which is classed as a tier two priority in the council's list of places to grit.

There are five priority one gritting routes which are:

• Gritting route 1 – Bulphan, Horndon on the Hill, Orsett (PDF 69.63KB)

• Gritting route 3 – Chadwell, East Tilbury, Grays, Linford, Tilbury, West Tilbury (PDF 80.62KB)

• Gritting route 5 – Aveley, Grays, South Ockendon (PDF 76.73KB)

Wharf Road is one of 84 'secondary' gritting routes but it is not clear if that includes the whole of the road, or just the area where it is primarily residential.

Certainly today there appeared to be no grit on the stretch of Wharf Road from the houses to the industrial estate which is also one of the main flooding spots in the area.

One resident, who witnessed today's events anxiously as large lorries slipped and edged nearer to parked cars, footpaths and garden walls said: "I can't recall seeing this area of road gritted and it is like sheet ice out there. It's very dangerous."

A number of articulated lorries found it extremely difficult to negotiate the road and one slipped over the pavement, gouging a large tyre track in the grass verge and damaging street signage.

More than 35,000 people viewed film of the HGVs' struggles on the icy road in just four hours this afternoon with many people commenting on a lack of gritting at various points across the borough and there appears to be a lack of knowledge of which roads are priorities.

A full list of both priority one and priority two routes can be found via this link, so you can check if your road should be gritted.

The council also details its plans for clearing pathways, saying: "We clear footways and pedestrian areas by hand in order of importance. The highest priority are heavily-used footways around transport links and shopping areas, footbridges and subway approaches, and footways leading to health premises and outside of schools (when schools are open)."