Winter Roads Maintenance Plan for Easter Ross approved for 2021/22
Members of the Easter Ross Area Committee today (12 August 2021) agreed to approve the 2021/22 Winter Maintenance Plan.
The approved plan (external link) includes a road map of prioritised gritting routes. The plan is the same as last year’s. Easter Ross will be area served by Alness and Tain depots.
The treatment of roads will be carried out based on a hierarchical 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.
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 1 January 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.
On 26 December and 2 January the service will be provided between 7am and 9pm and treatment will be restricted to the Primary and Secondary networks only. Where December 26th and January 2nd fall on a Saturday or Sunday then a standard weekend service will be provided.
The network hierarchy will be used in determining the order of treatment of footways:
- PRIMARY - Main urban shopping centres. Primary cycleways
- SECONDARY Footways serving main urban areas, schools, hospitals and minor shopping areas. Sheltered Housing and locations of special need with known identified hazards
- OTHER - Other footways as resources allow
The Council also encourages 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 Councils ‘’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 Chair, 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
ends