WIREDGOV

The LGA’s annual Winter Readiness Survey reveals how councils have prepared for the upcoming big freeze and any flooding this winter, with 92 per cent having either more salt in stock for this year, or the same level as they did last year.

Council leaders are also reminding households to show extra vigilance and ensure vulnerable friends, neighbours and relatives are safe when the big freeze bites.

With freezing temperatures forecast, highway teams are monitoring state-of-the-art weather forecasts with highly-trained staff on standby around the clock and some already deployed to grit thousands of miles of roads whenever temperatures plummet.

To cope with ongoing funding pressures and limited resources, more than half of councils will share salt stocks, 28 per cent will share gritting machinery, and one in six plan to team up across their boundaries to dispatch staff to key locations.

In addition to gritting roads and clearing snow drifts, councils will be looking out for the more vulnerable members of their communities this winter. Local teams will assist the elderly and vulnerable in their communities, from delivering hot meals to carrying out emergency household repairs and providing heating.

LGA severe weather hub 

The LGA survey, of highway council bosses across England and Wales, also finds:

• Almost eight in 10 councils will be looking to use GPS to manage gritting, to make sure the areas most affected by snow or ice are targeted.
• 62 per cent of councils will be equipping their staff with salt for street cleaners to spread on pavements. One in five will use measures other than salt to treat pavements, such as liquid de-icer.
• The vast majority of councils (84 per cent) will provide local communities with grit bins. These bins will enable residents to help themselves to salt as they need to tackle icy conditions. In addition, a third of councils will designate flood wardens, in order to protect the most susceptible areas.
• Almost nine in 10 councils are planning activity to reduce the risk of flooding on local roads as well, with six in ten councils are planning to use GPS –guided “Gully Suckers”, and keep gullies as clear as possible.

Local authorities will be constantly updating websites and social media throughout the winter with information on weather, road conditions, school closures and gritting routes.

Cllr Martin Tett, the LGA’s Transport spokesman, said:

“Winter is fast approaching and temperatures are already starting to drop – but councils are prepared yet again.

“Planning for winter remains a key priority for councils, despite ongoing funding pressures and competing demands on their limited resources. Across the country, local authorities have taken the steps necessary to protect their residents from floods, ice, and wintry conditions.

“Councils are constantly monitoring the weather, with up-to-the-minute reports to stay one step ahead. Depots are filled with 1.5 million tonnes of salt and gritters are ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice to make sure our local roads are clear and open to our residents where possible.

“As always, council teams will also spend the winter months checking in on elderly and vulnerable residents to make sure they are okay but communities need to be on look-out for each other. Whether it’s a quick knock at the door to check on an elderly neighbour, or helping to carry out emergency repairs, everyone has a role to play to keep each other safe this winter.”

Case studies

Leicester City Council has a team of six gritting lorries and 15 specialist drivers, based out of a depot in Beaumont Leys. The gritters have already been out this winter to deal with black ice, and can be deployed to grit a further 40 miles of route during severe snowfall. The gritting teams, who are constantly on standby through the winter months, routinely grit 180 miles of primary routes, which is more than a third of Leicester’s total road network.

Cornwall Council carries out on 25 key routes, covering approximately 875 miles of the road network, ensuring that 85 per cent of traffic movements can continue through the winter period. The routes include critical connections to hospital minor injury units, fire stations and all secondary schools.  Cornwall has at its disposal 16,000 tonnes of salt, provided from Irish salt mines, which is distributed to seven salt barns across the county for our gritting operations. 

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council has obtained nine new state-of-the-art gritting lorries to keep the main roads free from ice during the winter months. Balfour Beatty will provide the trucks as the main contractor for the council, which are equipped with tracking equipment and provide a more even distribution of rock salt when in use. 4,500 tonnes of rock salt are kept on hand at all times, with nine set routes ensuring up to 560 km of Solihull’s roads will remain as ice-free as possible. The council will keep residents updated on the latest weather arrangements on Twitter using the hashtag #WMGrit.

Leicestershire County Council has already dispatched its fleet of 17 gritters, and spread roughly 128 tonnes of rock salt across the road network as the temperature dropped. The council’s grit barns are stocked with up to 14,500 tonnes of rock salt, enough to fill three Olympic-size swimming pools. Residents will be kept up to date with local weather conditions using local radio stations and Twitter.

Notes

1.    The Met Office has tips, advice and a checklist to help communities and their residents get “Winter Weather Ready”.

2.    The LGA Research and Information team conducted a survey between 3-30 October 2017 to gather information about local authorities’ plans and preparations in case of severe weather. 79 councils responded – 45 per cent of all highways authorities in England and Wales. All figures quoted above are based on respondent councils only. The full survey is available on request.

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