Plans agreed for winter maintenance on Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh roads
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While summer memories are still fresh for many councillors have been hearing how preparations are already under way for the arrival of winter in the Highlands.
Members of Highland Council’s Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh committee were given an update on the local authority’s winter preparedness at a recent meeting.
A council spokeswoman said: “Across Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh there are 268km of primary routes, 221km of secondary routes and 4308km of other routes and these will be treated using 15 front-line gritters with footpath tractors also available to treat villages.
“In line with operations last year, the treatment of roads will be carried out based on a hierarchical system dependant on route priority and the gritting services will operate seven days a week including Saturdays and Sundays.
“Primary routes are treated first, followed by secondary routes and crews will only move on to treat other roads when the primary and secondary routes are all completed.
“The time taken to complete the treatment of routes will vary from day to day depending on actual weather conditions and can be expected to increase significantly during periods of severe weather due to having to plough both sides of the road.”
She added: “A team of 27 full-time dedicated winter roads operatives will be delivering services across the ward from a number of depots.
“The council will operate a rota to ensure that there is always a qualified and experienced member of local staff available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to take decisions on the deployment of appropriate resources to deal with the weather conditions
“The average annual usage of salt for the Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh area is approximately 7500 tonnes. Members of the committee were advised by the roads manager that the council is well prepared with sufficient stocks of salt in all its depots.”
Committee chairman, Councillor Ian Cockburn, said: “It is impossible to try to predict what weather we will have over the winter months, but we are lucky to have a hard working and dedicated team of local staff who go out in the worst of wintry conditions to provide the best service they can.
“The plan of routes and priorities we have agreed will be closely monitored over the coming winter months to make sure we can respond to extreme conditions and use all available resources to the best effect.”
The council is encouraging communities to “self-help” as much as possible and to generate awareness of those who may need assistance from neighbours in clearing snow and ice or accessing services during extreme weather. The council’s Winter Resilience scheme allows communities to apply via their community council to carry out footway gritting operations within an agreed area, with the council providing salt/grit, bins, scrapers and reflective waistcoats.
Applications for the scheme can be made at https://bit.ly/3B6n7Pf
Details of the council’s winter policy are available at https://bit.ly/2WkZ7cC
