Leader: Canadians put snow-clearing in perspective

ew suggestions have more offended the Scottish trait of always looking to the government to sort out our ills than the request to country dwellers by Transport Scotland to clear their own snow-covered paths during winter. The roads agency has offered “self-help kits” of shovels, grit bins and manual salt spreaders to residents in rural areas so they can help keep pavements clear. It has been met with uproar.

But there is a limit to what even the most amply funded public authority can do in a country of Scotland’s size and dispersed population. And during last year’s big freeze-up, many Canadians visiting here were astonished at how we expected the local authority to sweep and clear all the pavements. In other countries people in the face of weather adversity are much more ready to lend a hand and do some sweeping and clearing round their own properties to help the general good. In the circumstances the offer of Transport Scotland is not unreasonable.

The worry, of course, is that it will go further. A cash-strapped Scottish local authority could now be tempted to tell residents to drive their own refuse lorries, sweep their own streets, fight their own fires and solve their own crimes. Even the best idea can only be taken so far.