2024/25 winter maintenance plan approved for Nairnshire

Members of the Nairnshire Area Committee agreed the Winter Maintenance Plan for 2024/25 when they met today, Monday, 5 August. 

The approved plan includes a road map of prioritised gritting routes and is available to view here (Appendix 1 on pages seven and eight).  Across the area, there are 3 front-line gritters available and 2 footpath tractors. 

Councillors noted the priorities, timings and resources available for gritting the Nairnshire area network of Primary 66km (20%); Secondary 98km (29%) and Other 169km (51%). 

The treatment of roads will be carried out based on a hierarchical system dependant on route priority: 

• Primary (Highest) – Treated from 6am to 9pm Monday to Saturday, generally covering all the A class roads and some B class and including main commuter routes in the larger urban areas. 
• Secondary – Treated mostly after the primary network has been completed between 6am and 6pm Monday to Saturday and covering roads which in general connect smaller communities to the primary network.  On bus routes, gritting will not necessarily be completed before buses start their journeys. 
• Other – These are minor rural and local access and residential roads.  These roads are treated as resources become available.

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. 

Nairnshire Area Committee Chair, Cllr Michael Green, said: “It’s essential that we take a proactive approach and ensure plans are in place early to enable the winter maintenance team to act quickly when winter weather arrives. 

“The Highland Council has an approved list of priority routes for treatment and would encourage the public to familiarise themselves with the gritting maps for the area specific to them.” 

He added: “Additionally, a core part of the corporate strategy is participation in the ‘Community self-help’, under the Council’s ‘Winter Resilience’ scheme, where communities can submit applications via their community council to carry out footway gritting operations.” 

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 Council’s ‘’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. 

Salting will not prevent roads from icing up in extreme conditions – this is particularly relevant on low traffic roads where there are insufficient vehicle movements to aid the interaction between the salt and the ice crystals.  Local people are therefore reminded that: 

• Drivers should take account of prevailing weather and road conditions 

• Winter weather conditions within the Highlands can be very localised 

• Black ice can be a particular danger. You cannot see it and it can still be there even after treatment 

• Dawn frosts can also catch drivers unaware. At first light a clear sky will allow heat to radiate quickly from the road surface causing icy patches to form on wet or damp roads. 

Applications for the Winter Resilience scheme can be made at: https://www.highland.gov.uk/downloads/download/836/winter_resilience_community_aid