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The recent spate of bad weather may have been fun for some, with children enjoying time off school and many workers spending ‘snow days' with the family, but for local authorities it brought with it a range of challenges which saw their staff having to go the extra mile to keep services running. Despite the inevitable ‘council bashing' of the vocal minority, across Devon, as in many areas, local authorities worked hard together to keep things going, and not always in the most obvious way. In Teignbridge, heavy snow meant some rural-living customer service staff were unable to get to the office at the same time as the council experienced a huge rise in customer inquiries. No problem – colleagues persuaded a husband dropping off his wife at work to stay and take a 15-minute crash course in customer service before joining the depleted team and helping keep the show on the road. Meanwhile, Torridge's caretaker set out on his tractor in the early hours of the morning, picking up rock salt on the way, determined to get to the office and clear a path for local residents. This helped others to get to work safely, and ensured the offices were heated for those coming in from the cold. Staff across Devon undertook journeys which would challenge TV's Top Gear presenters – not least an Exeter City Council employee who drove 1,242 miles from his family's home in Poland after New Year, and still managed to make it in to work on time. Examples of individual and team commitment abound, from the Teignbridge refuse team doing extra gritting by hand so they could collect more bins, to the Devon CC staff, police and volunteers working through the night to help rescue and accommodate motorists trapped by freak snow on a busy dual carriageway during rush hour. In tough times, people always turn to local authorities and other public sector agencies with expectations which are not always realistic or reasonable. Despite the inevitable criticism for every missed bin or ungritted minor road, it's important to acknowledge that council staff, especially frontline workers, are the country's backbone in hard times, and not just fair weather friends. For every gritter working overnight, for every bin-man facing the elements, for every nurse tending to patients or teacher getting to school, I would like to say thank you or, as we say in Devon, ‘proper job'! Nicola Bulbeck is joint chief executive at Teignbridge DC and Torridge DC

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WHITEHALL

District View

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