5. Winter Standby, Standby Procedures & Gritting Guidelines
The formal winter standby period for Council roads will normally be from the end of the working day on the Thursday nearest to 1st November to the Thursday nearest to 15th April. This period may be extended at either end as the prevailing weather conditions dictate.
5.2 Shift and Standby Procedures
During the operational period, standby arrangements will be operated on a formal home standby basis, with call-out as required. Arrangements will be put in place to allow mobilisation of frontline vehicles within 1 hour of call out.
Standby rotas will include sufficient drivers to ensure that the priority 1 routes can be treated within 3 hours of commencing treatment
On receipt of a weather forecast indicating medium to heavy snow, where resources allow, sufficient additional operatives will be placed on standby to cover all priority 1 & 2 routes and any priority 3 routes likely to be affected, as timetables indicate, by the forecast.
5.3 Carriageway Treatment
- Carriageways will generally be treated in the order of priority as specified in section 4.
- Precautionary treatment for frost and light snow will be spread at a target rate of 10g/m² of salt.
- Precautionary treatment of 20g/m² for conditions where frost is forecast after rain should be delayed as long as possible to reduce loss of salt due to wash-off. This should not preclude the treatment of routes during showers where freezing of rain on contact has been predicted or is reported.
- Precautionary treatment when heavy snow falls are expected should be at a rate of between 20 and 40g/m² of salt according to the anticipated severity of snowfall and confidence level of the forecast.
- In conditions where current snowfall is forecast to continue, substitution of salt with abrasive materials, sand or grit, will be instigated until such time as showers cease and any use of de-icing materials are deemed to be more effective. In extreme or persisting conditions, all material spreading will cease until there is an expectation that any deposits will remain on the carriageway and be effective in aiding traction.
- In marginal conditions, consideration will be given to limiting treatment to known localised areas prone to icing. During periods of prolonged freezing conditions in the absence of precipitation, spot salting of areas of persistent seepage will continue while hazards remain.
- Where areas of seepage from adjoining land are recorded on a regular basis, these will be identified and pre-emptive rectification of the drainage system will be instigated.
By 13:00 each day during the winter months, having considered the most recent weather forecast, the level of residual salt on the road network and the available resources, the Duty Manager will compile an Action Plan for carriageway treatment for the following twenty-four hours. The Winter Manager will review, recommend any adjustments if needed and then approve the proposed plan.
Land owners will be notified of their requirement to carry-out such work as it affects public roads. The Council will take necessary steps to effect repairs, in the absence of any undertaken by landowners and pursue recovery of costs accordingly.
5.4 Footway and Footpath Treatment
- Treatment of footways and footpaths will be by a combination of mechanical and manual operation. In large urban areas footway salting will be carried out by purpose built spreader barrows with a nominal design spread rate of 50g/m².
- Salt will only be utilised where ice and frost are the main hazard. In all snowfall conditions, physical clearance will be the priority with sand / grit spread thereafter to aid traction.
- Treatment of footways and footpaths will normally only be carried out during the normal working day as resources permit. In most cases additional resources should be mobilised at local level as conditions dictate. The Winter Manager and Duty Manager will be kept informed of all additional resources mobilised by local management.
