As snow rarely hangs around long in London, most of us probably don’t do much to prepare. However, the current forecast reminds me of the last prolonged cold period, when uncleared snow was quickly walked down into ice and getting around SE23 got very tricky.
There is a chance of a similar situation this time (although hopefully not for as long) and with some community spirit, things can be made a bit easier. Last time round I cleared the snow from the public footpath along my property boundary along with the path up to the house. I then salted the cleared area (if I have salt to hand) or at a push sprinkled it with cat litter. I got a hearty handshake from our postman for my efforts!
If you are physically able, then this is 15-30 minutes well spent. If everyone able did it, we’d have mostly ice free pavements.