Winter road maintenance
Our winter service starts on the 14 October and continues to 14 April. During this time we monitor road and weather conditions across our road network.
We maintain a fleet of 105 gritters, 42 pavement gritters and 1 snowblower. Across the Highlands there are over 1,750 grit bins. Over a typical winter around 50,000 tonnes of salt will be spread on the road. In 2018 our Winter Service Policy was approved by committee and remains in place.
The cost of providing this service reflects the fact that we have to treat the longest local road network of any council in Scotland. Although expenditure varies according to the severity of the winter we would expect to spend in the region of £5 million annually.