Pensioner a prisoner in his own home

WHY are people like me, a pensioner who has had both hips replaced in the past two years, prisoners in our own homes?

I have worked all my life and paid my taxes, yet the a few inches of snow that fell a week before Christmas remained untreated.

Forty years ago, with a lot less equipment and money, the local council was able to grit the paths and we were able to get about with relative ease.