Sinn Féin MP for Foyle Elisha McCallion has called on the Transport NI/Roads Service to ensure that adequate levels of road salt are made available to areas of the city and district which are not currently serviced by either grit boxes or grit Lorries due to strict criteria applied by the Roads Service.
She said there were a range of partnership options available with the local community to address the problem.
The Foyle MP said: "Over the last week myself and my party colleagues in the assembly and council have been inundated with complaints from residents who live in streets which are neither gritted by Transport NI or provided with grit boxes due to their streets not meeting roads service criteria.
"In some areas our representatives have worked with the local community organisations who have been supplied with additional road salt by the Department of Infrastructure to ensure that some of the affected streets have been salted. This innovative approach has been welcomed by local residents but thus far has only been possible to roll out in certain estates due to the limited amount of road salt that is made available.
"I have now formally requested Transport NI to consider the provision of much larger volumes of salt so that all vulnerable areas of the city and district can be salted by local community groups in a structured manner. In the event of a positive response myself and my party colleagues will work with residents, community groups and Transport NI to ensure the service is delivered efficiently and to the benefit of residents across the city and district."
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