Winter Service Policy

The actions instigated by the Winter Service Manager, undertaken to inhibit the formation of ice, are as follows:

• precautionary salting is carried out on Primary Routes when road surface temperatures are forecast to drop below 0.5 degrees centigrade
• on occasion, precautionary salting may also be carried out on Secondary Routes when accumulations of snow in excess of 20mm are forecast, subject to resource availability

Where necessary after snowfall and once precautionary salting has been completed, the Winter Service Manager may instigate appropriate post treatment actions, including further salting and/or snow clearance. Snow clearance will be carried out in accordance with the following priorities as far as resources allow:

1. The Resilient Network: the county’s most strategic roads (a sub-set of the Primary precautionary salting network as shown in the plan appended) providing through routes and links between major communities. They are also referred to as snow routes in the Winter Service Operations Plan and comprise around 20% of the county’s network. During other severe weather events, the Resilient Network is also used to prioritise emergency response actions in times of severe weather, such as storms, high winds and heavy rainfall, to maintain through movement along these key routes.
2. The remaining primary precautionary salting routes and ad-hoc requests made by the emergency services.
3. The secondary precautionary salting routes.
4. Footways and Cycleways in main shopping areas; other key pedestrian and cycle facilities; footways in busy urban areas serving schools, hospitals, and other remaining high-use footways; remaining cycleways and other residential footways.
5. The remaining unclassified road network.