Lochaber area gritting routes for winter confirmed

The priorities with which The Highland Council will grit roads within the Lochaber area this winter have been approved by the Lochaber Area Committee during a special meeting held this morning (21 October 2015) in Fort William.

In December 2014 The Highland Council agreed a Winter Maintenance saving of £240k for 2015/16 and a further £240K saving in 2016/17. The Committee were meeting today to discuss changes in the priorities of gritting routes and to agree a priority network of 235km primary routes, 51km of secondary routes and 395km of other routes in the Lochaber area.

Primary routes are treated first, followed by secondary routes and crews will only movie on to treat other roads when the primary and secondary routes are all completed.

The routes have been set within the context of the Council’s current Winter Maintenance Policy which is in place to ensure a consistent level of service is applied across all areas of the Highlands.  Each year local areas put in place their Winter Maintenance Plan to cover the operational details in order to deliver a service locally within existing budget and resources.

Lochaber Councillor and Chair of The Community Services Committee, Councillor Allan Henderson gave the committee assurances that a full review of the Highland Winter Maintenance Policy, including assessment of how the current policy was implemented will be undertaken and it would be brought to the April 2016 Community Services Committee.   Recommendations from the Lochaber Area Committee will be dealt with as part of this review.   He said:  “Resources have been depleted but we have to get on and do what we can with what we have.”

Details of the Lochaber Area priority routes approved today can be viewed by visiting http://www.highland.gov.uk/