Most local authorities have not made any major changes to their winter service plans, despite the events of last winter, but many have invested in their salt stocks.
Answering a Surveyor poll into winter service practices, 65% of the 40 councils surveyed said although they were making other small changes and increasing their salt stocks, they were not planning to make any major changes in the near future.
Matthew Dale, assistant highways information engineer at West Sussex CC, said: ‘The plan this season has been to top-up existing salt supply in order to cope for a predicted normal winter. We are confident in our stock supply lasting the duration of this winter, and we have also built a new salt barn at one of our depots.’
Elsewhere, similar investment has been made. Stirling Council has announced it will invest an extra £150,000 in its winter service, taking its total spend to £1.255m. Cumbria CC is trialling rock salt with additives in an attempt to improve the gritting of its routes, and in Cornwall, this season’s salt will be delivered to the county by boat to help improve distribution to depots and cut down on environmental concerns associated with lorry delivery.
Another council told Surveyor: ‘We have made no changes to our service this year. We could not have physically done more than we did.’
Matthew Riches, west area highways manager at Suffolk CC, said: ‘We will be keeping our barns fully stocked through to the end of January, and will restock during the early part of winter, as soon as stocks fall by 1,000 tonnes.’ Other authorities surveyed said they were looking for resilience of between six and seven days of supply.
Register now for full access
Register just once to get unrestricted, real-time coverage of the issues and challenges facing UK transport and highways engineers.
Full website content includes the latest news, exclusive commentary from leading industry figures and detailed topical analysis of the highways, transportation, environment and place-shaping sectors.
Use the link below to register your details for full, free access.
Already a registered? Login
