Local highway authorities faced a continuing shortage of rock salt this week, despite the Government stepping in to direct the prioritising of orders, and the Highways Agency relinquishing some stock.
LocalGov.co.uk sister title, Surveyor, has learned that between 20%-25% of authorities have less than two days’ stock left, despite most rationing salt by only treating primary routes, and mixing the salt with other materials. Around two-thirds have enough salt for two to five days.
The Department for Transport and the Local Government Association were assembling a daily list of orders for Salt Union to prioritise, based on both stock levels and Met Office forecasts.
However, some authorities, such as Rhonda Cynon Taf Borough Council, reported that deliveries were still not being made, despite the prioritisation system, while others, including Gloucestershire County Council, were receiving only a small fraction of what they had ordered.
This was despite the fact that sub-zero temperatures were predicted for the Midlands, West Country and Wales this week, and into the coming weekend (14 and 15 February). Extra salt was being imported to the UK this week from as far afield as Tunisia. There was a 40,000t delivery being shipped from Spain. However, councils were still facing the ‘nightmare scenario’ of being unable to treat major routes, given the daily uncertainty over how much they would receive.
Rhonda Cynon Taf said on Tuesday (10th) that the authority ‘cannot predict if any supplies will be forthcoming’.
Duncan Jordan, group director of environment for Gloucestershire, which had 1,300t of salt left on Monday evening despite a delivery last weekend (of 550t), said: ‘We want to be able to look ahead by more than a day or two.
‘Are supplies of salt going to be generally constrained for the remainder of the winter maintenance season?’ The Highways Agency, which usually stores six days’ worth of salt, reduced this to five, ‘in light of the need to consider mutual aid support to local authorities’. It had denied claims that it was receiving preferential treatment from suppliers, and on Tuesday had ‘three to four days’ worth left itself.
However, according to the Welsh LGA, ‘if Highways Agency supplies appear likely to dip below a prudent level, further advice from the secretary of state will be sought on how to proceed’. Matthew Lugg, chair of the CSS engineering committee, said: ‘Running out of salt would be a nightmare scenario, given the safety implications.’
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