Winter roads maintenance plan for Easter Ross approved by area committee - gritting scheme will repeat priorities from winter 2020/21
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Easter Ross area committee councillors today agreed to approve the 2021/22 Highland Council winter maintenance plan.
The "gritting plan" approves the way in which routes throughout Easter Ross are prioritised.
Essentially the plan is the same as last year’s gritting route and Easter Ross will be area served by Alness and Tain depots.
The treatment of roads will be carried out based on a system dependant on route priority.
Across Ross and Cromarty there are 29 front-line gritters available and 11 footpath tractors. There are a limited number of spare gritters available across Highland.
A Highland Council spokesman said: "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 snow due to having to plough both sides of the road.
"The Easter Ross plan states that between Monday and Friday the service will be provided to the full road network between 6am and 9pm. Treatment after 6pm will in general be restricted to primary routes only.
"At the weekends a strategic service will be provided which covers primary, strategic secondary and difficult other routes between 6am and 9pm. Treatment after 6pm will in general be restricted to primary routes only."
On the public holidays of 25 December and January 1 the service will be provided between 7am and 9pm and will be restricted to the primary network only. During periods of sustained snow, or where significant snow conditions are forecast, the service may be extended to include difficult secondary routes.
As 26 December and January 2 fall on a weekend day, a standard weekend service will be provided.
For footpaths, the order of treatment will be primary cycleways and main urban shopping centres, then secondary treatment will be undertaken on footways serving main urban areas, schools, hospitals and minor shopping areas. Sheltered Housing and locations of special need with known identified hazards, then other footways will be treated as resources allow.
Highland Council is encouraging communities to “self-help” as much as possible and to generate awareness of people within their community that may need assistance from neighbours in clearing snow and ice or possibly shopping or accessing health and social services during extreme weather conditions.
Community self-help is also being encouraged under the council's ‘’winter resilience’’ scheme whereby communities can submit an application via their community council to carry out footway gritting operations within an agreed area. The council will provide the community with salt/grit, bins, scrapers and reflective waistcoats.
Easter Ross area committee chairwoman, Cllr Fiona Robertson, said: “It is important to note that this does not replace the service provided by the council but allows the community to provide an enhanced level of service.”
Applications for the Winter Resilience scheme can be made at: https://www.highland.gov.uk/downloads/download/836/winter_resilience_community_aid
The leaflets and policy information are provided on the “Winter Maintenance” pages on the council’s web site at www.highland.gov.uk/yourenvironment/roadsandtransport/wintermaintenance.
