Why can't farmers plough the roads?

Thu 21 Jan 2010, 21:04

I await your researches with interest. There is no reason why farmers should be carrying out roadwork uncompensated, and obstacles such as insurances and liabilities should be abrogated by the responsibility of the Local Authority. Clearly there is no real obstacle if other people can do this so why not allow "us" to build up a database of local machinery and people who can deal with the immediate local area to clear the roads, and make clear to people that there is no liability for clearing the public highway (sidewalks) outside their homes (and make salt available??). Every year since we moved here there has been a couple of weeks of disruption and the overall cost would have been more than compensated for by some minor elements of work facilitated by the relevant authorities. With the likelihood of extreme cold events increasing markedly as a result of global warming (an ironic result of the North Atlantic Oscillation err oscillating more robustly) we need to make adjustments to the usual approaches. I suspect that these cold snaps will become annual in the next decade as this is one of the most likely modelling outputs - Mediterranean climate be darned ;) no such luck.

Wed 20 Jan 2010, 09:57

A local farmer did a certain amount of clearing in Finstock (not enough to enable the High Street to be passable for a long time though). I have asked Mike Breakell, who knows him, to look into how this happened---i.e. was he asked by someone or was it just his own initative.

Wed 20 Jan 2010, 08:21

OK, at parish level, as you put it: identify a farmer with a tractor and snow plough who could be asked, and suggest him to Huw Jones. Failing that, why not write to Huw Jones (almost certainly huw.jones@oxfordshire.gov.uk )and ask him why/if he can't find a farmer round here to help the next time.

You could copy it to our county councillor, too, Neil Owen who won't have read this: he's at anita.owen@tiscali.co.uk .

Tue 19 Jan 2010, 22:11

BUT - yes the "b" word - but they are not doing it around here so I am not stopping moaning! Why isn't this county wide and probably most sensibly devolved to the parish level where local knowledge will see that resources are allocated to the points where they are most critical. There is now clear precedence - more pressure to make it universally applied is now necessary!

Tue 19 Jan 2010, 22:01

On Jan 9 this appeared in the Oxford Mail:

'And, during the course of the week, more than 30 farmers have linked up with Oxfordshire County Council to help clear snow in rural parts of the county.

'County council officer Huw Jones, director for environment and economy, said: “We’re delighted with the way town and district councils and volunteers, such as the farmers, have worked with us.

'“We know that yet more cold weather and snow is forecast, so we are pulling our plans together with our partners so that we are ready for that.”'

So there you are. They do it already. Stop moaning.

Tue 19 Jan 2010, 20:17

Hence my comment about "sane" reasons aimed at the county councillors! Fear of litigation, insurances, supply of equipment and training where appropriate are all reasons that will be given, and all these issues are dealt with and undertaken in other countries so why not here? Yeah it means "change" that word that seems to paralyse with terror the British ruling class, but how many millions of pounds of losses have been accrued within the local area alone by the last 3 weeks, making the costs of dealing with the problem with local resources (no need for new gritters 'cos last time I looked at a tractor they were using the same standard attachments as when I were a farm 'and back when I were a lad in the 60s...

Tue 19 Jan 2010, 09:26

Jon's right, in some parts of the country farmers have been told by their councils not to (Shropshire).

However,in order to use a plough you've got to have the appropriate license and I've come across various people complaining that they had licenses but councils were employing people without who didn't have a clue and were just making the problem worse. On motorways.

Tue 19 Jan 2010, 09:00

Mind you, having read this, I wonder if farmers use exactly the same excuse as householders who refuse to clear their pavements?

Tue 19 Jan 2010, 08:56

It is an obvious option, which is why they do it -- where they can.

The area is "lousy with powerful multiwheel drive agricultural vehicles", as you put it, Malcolm, at specific times of year, notably harvest time and the potato harvest. These are not the farmers' vehicles, they belong to contractors (who almost certainly move across the country as the time and suitability for the harvest changes). I believe Cornbury may actually own one tractor.

It is of course an open question whether a farmer who has a tractor to plough a field actually has a snow plough to use in any case.

Tue 19 Jan 2010, 08:54

I'm sure Nadine's point comes into it - but the main answer surely is cash? I'm sure I remember farmers doing this in the snow of 1981?....

It's been so long since then that county councils have found 'better' ways of spending our money that there's no longer any budget to pay the farmers & their insurance, even if their buckets still exist....

The Government's recommendation of holding just 6 days worth of grit has proven to be woefully inadequate! THis needs at least doubling...

Of course, grit stored in a warehouse has almost unlimited lifespan & therefore not a continuing drain on resources unless the grit is used.

Also, investing in gritters that other councils have with a plough on the front and a gritter at the rear would help too....rather than requiring both gritters and separate ploughs.

Warwickshire & Gloucestershire did far better clearing the snow than OCC did - and it's the County Councillors that need approaching, not the District Councillors. If the roads were treated better (and that includes providing grit bins where local town & village councils ask for them - especially as they would be paying for them! - not knowing best and saying they're not needed! - District Council services would be better able to get around the villages to do the jobs that we pay for....

I hope the County Councillors call for a report from their Highways teams....it is sorely needed.

Tue 19 Jan 2010, 08:39

Malcolm I couldn't agree more it is such an obvious solution and I wonder what stops them from taking up this option. Fear of litigation perhaps as the uninsured farmer slews across the road and demolishes someone's hedge. If so that is a ridiculous excuse to ground an entire village in this day and age!

Mon 18 Jan 2010, 21:54

Anyone with a sane reason why farmers can't snowplough roads like in most other countries seeing as this area is lousy with powerful multiwheel drive agricultural vehicles that did nowt for 2 weeks. The cost to the county economy of the last couple of weeks would be more than justification for supplying every tractor of suitable type with a snowplough at public expense if they haven't got one already! Why is it always the English who have to muddle through every crisis with the Dunkirk spirit when the solution is so trivially available? Councillors I await with interest your reasons for not contracting stretches of public road to agricultural machinery!