IN response to your correspondent (Where's our bins? (Letter December 30th 2011) and as one of two West Dean parish councillors for Ellwood and Sling ward (the other is Mr Bill Gibbs and we are both resident within the ward and all West Dean parish councillors are resident within West Dean Parish) and as chairman of the West Dean Parish Council's Public Safety Committee which, as part of its duties, is currently dealing with the matter of the population of grit bins in the West Dean Parish as a whole, I can assure your Sling correspondent that, according to a recent survey I myself carried out, there are at least five grit bins in the village of Sling but of course it may be that none of these are where your correspondent lives. It is hoped to increase this number by a further four in the near future.

The West Dean Parish Council's volunteer Public Safety Committee has, in fact, recently performed a survey of grit bins throughout the West Dean Parish and is currently in negotiations with Gloucestershire County Highways Dept to increase or re-distribute the population of grit bins to improve the coverage and to ensure they are where they are needed most.

Sadly, we are not able to put bins everywhere and on routes where Highways routinely scatter grit, in reaction to the weather forecast and prevailing conditions, grit bins will most likely be entirely absent.

However, if a West Dean parishioner has a particular concern about a specific location they can contact me on email: [email protected]">[email protected] or telephone the parish council office on 01594 564484 and I or the appropriate West Dean councillor will arrange to visit and assess the site in question. The Highways will then be contacted to find out if they will agree the establishment of an extra bin – but it's all down to budgets, of course. If your Sling correspondent would be kind enough to contact me I will be pleased to meet them and see that the needs of their area are properly met.

Your readers might like to know that, through the West Dean Parish Council, the Public Safety Committee is also responsible for the appointment and organisation of snow wardens throughout the West Dean Parish area and are considering the purchase of a number of hand-operated grit spreaders to be placed around the parish in strategic sites and, through the Highways, assists in the establishment and maintenance of a snow plough service in the parish.

West Dean Parish is also in need of a few extra snow wardens and would be pleased to hear from anybody in West Dean who might be interested to learn more.

– Bill Gayler, Marsh Way, Sling.