Highland counts the cost of winter maintenance

The coldest winter in the Highlands since 1962 has resulted in an estimated overspend on The Highland Council’s Transport, Environmental and Community Services' budget by £1.497 million (2.2%) by the end of the financial year.

As a consequence of the prolonged cold weather and heavy snowfalls, it is inevitable the Council will have to call on the Winter Maintenance Reserve Fund to mitigate the overspend.

Meanwhile, committee members welcomed an update on a review of operational services over the winter period. 

Neil Gillies, Director of TEC Services informed members that the initial review had been a scoping exercise to identify key issues for further more detailed investigation. He advised members that the initial review of the service has identified various areas for more detailed investigation including:

The main service areas affected by the extreme weather were winter maintenance, refuse collections and burials.

Mr Gillies said: “The problems with the refuse collection were not the service itself – but the issue of gaining access to uplift bins. Regarding burials, credit must be given to our staff for the fact that all planned burials went ahead in the Highlands during this period of extreme weather. As our road salt supply is now up to 15,000 tonnes we can now lift the salt conservation measures that we put in place on the 14th January. We have now resumed a full winter maintence service.”

Members agreed that detailed reviews of the Council’s Winter Maintenance Policy and Operational Procedures; and the burial administration service during the holiday period is undertaken to ensure consistency of the latter across the Highlands, and that the outcomes are reported to a future TECS Committee.

Members also noted that a review of the arrangements for customer contact during the Christmas/New Year period will be included in an overall review to be undertaken by the Council’s Chief Executive.