Weather warning: City Council says grit bins being refilled ‘as soon as possible’ as icy conditions develop in Edinburgh

Edinburgh City Council has said that gritting bins are being refilled ‘as quickly as possible’ following an announcement from the Met Office of icy conditions developing across the east of Scotland tonight.

Edinburgh City Council said their gritters are working round the clock to deal with the situation (Photo: Edinburgh City Council).

A weather warning from the Met Office has predicted that between 4pm today and 11am tomorrow, icy conditions will continue to develop across the east of Scotland.

This will affect areas such as Edinburgh, Midlothian, East Lothian and West Lothian.

However, the council has now promised they are refilling grit bins ‘as fast as possible’ across the Capital with their gritters ‘working round the clock to keep the city moving.’

In a twitter post today, City of Edinburgh Council tweeted: “Edinburgh was hit with freezing rain overnight leading to very icy surfaces. Our gritters are working round the clock to keep the city moving, with street cleansing staff helping out hand-spreading grit outside doctors' surgeries, shops etc.

“Grit bins are being re-filled as fast as possible - thank you to all residents helping to keep their streets safe. Please NB that just a sprinkling of grit is needed and will help grit stocks last longer.”

The council’s announcement comes after claims they are not doing enough to deal with the black ice dominating many of Edinburgh’s streets at the moment.

MSP Jeremy Balfour said none of the streets in his area around Comiston Drive, Morningside, had been treated since snow hit Edinburgh a week ago.

One Twitter user responded to the council, saying: “We have zero grit and waiting for the bin to be filled. Treacherous out there.”

Another user complained that rubbish including fizzy drinks bottles were being dumped in grit bins.

They tweeted: “Maybe a closer eye on our grit bins would be an idea?? What an absolute disgrace.

"Let me know how the rubbish dumped in here can stop myself and others in the street from slipping on lethal pavements when you have time, cheers!”

Edinburgh City Council said they have gritted all ‘priority routes’ and are tackling category two and three areas.

They also noted gritter lorries and mini-tugs will be out throughout the night treating priority routes from Gilmerton to South Queensferry where sub-zero temperatures are forecast.

For further information on gritting and grit bins, you can visit the Council’s website here.

A message from the Editor:Thank you for reading this article. We're more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

If you haven't already, please consider supporting our trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription.