IT must not happen again.

That’s the call from a Blandford man who said town centre pavements were left in a treacherous condition during the pre-Christmas cold snap. Steve Adamson told town, district, and county councillors present at a recent meeting of Blandford Town Council that residents should be empowered to clear pavements if councils can no longer afford to do so.

“I saw elderly people and parents with push chairs struggling to get into town. It was a dangerous situation. Absolutely no action was taken by anybody to do anything about it,” he said.

“We should have a plan that in the event of another heavy snow fall, councils say what they will and will not be doing and hopefully get the community to take some of the load and do something about it.”

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Adamson insisted his call was not “an exercise in finger-pointing” and said in Germany citizens had a legal obligation to clear the section of pavement outside their homes.

Speaking for North Dorset District Council, Cllr Steve Hitchings, town councillor for Hilltop ward, told the meeting that clearing pavements was not a function of the district authority.

“However, when refuse collectors were unable to go out in larger vehicles, they were deployed in the centre of Blandford, Gillingham, and Shaftesbury, and those areas were cleared.

“People can take action if they wish as long as they don’t make the situation worse. We have to look after ourselves.

“Councils do not have the resources these days. The money is not there. The manpower is not there.”

Blandford’s county councillor, Barrie Cooper, said he had investigated the matter with County Hall highway engineer Jon Mann.

“There is no specific legislation that says the county council should clear pavements.

“We have to look at how we can best use all our staff when these occurrences arise,” he said.

Town councillors will debate the matter at a meeting of the town and general purposes committee on Monday.