Aberdeenshire Council is once again ready to respond to the challenges of the coming winter season in order to keep its pedestrians and traffic safe and moving, it has said.
Council services have been getting a fleet of gritters and support vehicles ready for action and stocking up on salt and grit, while councillors last week agreed the Roads Winter Maintenance Policy on how it will respond to all cold weather conditions.
It is hoped that the ever-growing population of Snow Wardens who generously volunteer their time to help with clearing and gritting in their communities will expand even further this winter.
Aberdeenshire’s resilient communities and Snow Wardens play a vital role in helping to support the council’s winter maintenance approach. The council scheme is growing in popularity and actively supports members of our communities by supplying them with equipment, PPE and training to manually clear snow and grit publicly-adopted footways.
These self-managing groups of community-spirited residents jump into action whenever they are required – providing help in both residential areas and in town centres to bolster the council’s own efforts.
Some groups have asked for mechanical equipment to help their efforts and the council is investigating various options.
As we have all seen over recent years, the region can be severely impacted during the winter – be that through rain, heavy snow or freezing temperatures. While the council is hoping to avoid excessively harsh conditions, crews will remain on-call 24/7 from now until April to deal with winter conditions.
The council has a variety of equipment and vehicles for use to keep Aberdeenshire 3,500-mile roads network and 925 miles of footway in a serviceable and safe condition, including:
• 55 gritters
• 48 footway gritters
• 14 mini gritters
• 15 ploughs and blades
• 13 loading shovels
• 3 snow blowers
• 2,000 grit bins
Support is also provided by landscape and waste services, with paid-for external resources also being used including contractors and farmers.
Historically the council has used between 36,000 and 45,000 tonnes of salt annually to ensure roads and footways remain safe for all users, with regular supplies coming in from Aberdeen port. The pre-season restocking of salt began this week, with more than 10,500 tonnes expected to be delivered by the end of the month.
Aberdeenshire’s primary road network receives preventative treatment with gritters and ploughs starting a morning treatment at 5.40am when required and finishing an evening treatment no later than 9pm each day. On the minor routes, gritting is undertaken if sub-zero road temperatures are forecast for 48 hours.
Council teams use the latest weather forecasting technology in planning its gritting operations with the over over-riding aim of keeping priority one roads passable at all times unless weather conditions are particularly severe.
The council is introducing a number of additional live camera feeds so that operations can be targeted more effectively and this will also be made available to the public to monitor the conditions of roads they are likely to be using.
Between the hours of 9pm and 5.40am an emergency response is provided if requested by any of the emergency services. This retains the council’s 24-hour service capability while ensuring a level of consistency.
Cllr Alan Turner, chair of the council’s Infrastructure Services Committee, said: “Last winter was a long, drawn out affair and the icy conditions required a lot of gritting rather than the removal of heavy snow. That placed a considerable pressure on our staff, however once again our dedicated teams worked tirelessly throughout the challenging conditions and really did go above and beyond to ensure our roads and footways remain safe and passable wherever possible.
“As a council we’re always hoping for a mild winter but as we saw last year it can last far longer – and cost us a lot more – than anticipated. I would like to reassure all our communities that we do have a strong winter maintenance programme in place, however while our teams and crews will do all they can to help keep traffic moving, it’s also important for all road users to proceed with caution and to consider whether their journey is absolutely necessary.”
ISC vice-chair Cllr Isobel Davidson added: “Our winter maintenance operations are a major and expensive undertaking for our roads teams and other services, but we know our communities value all the efforts our crews and support contractors go to year after year.
“That appreciation is certainly extended to all our wonderful Snow Wardens who undertake a huge amount of snow clearing and gritting in their own time free of charge to support our own efforts.
“I would encourage more of our communities to consider volunteering, to band together in times of need during the winter and really play their part in keeping Aberdeenshire moving.”
PIC-ABERDEENSHIRE COUNCIL
