Keeping the Borough Moving When Winter Comes
The last two winters saw exceptionally low temperatures and heavy snowfall, with the 'Big Freeze' lasting for an extended period in each case. With winter fast approaching, we have worked to make sure we can keep the Borough moving should the weather make it a hat-trick this year. Over the last two winters, despite the incredibly harsh conditions in the borough, we were able to maintain services and to continue to grit a full network of road routes and heavily-used pedestrianised areas thanks to early preparation and the commitment and dedication of front-line staff . This year, we are committed again to doing all we can to keep the Borough moving, and have worked very hard in the warmer months to ensure we are fully prepared for what the winter has in store.
We have sourced approximately 7,000 tonnes of grit, with a further 3,000 tonnes on order and our stores at capacity. In fact, the Council secured so much grit in advance of the winter period the doors at the Twinwoods storage depot fell off!
We have purchased a specially equipped quad bike will be available to grit busy pedestrian areas, such as the town centre and other shopping parades as well as other narrow and hard to reach routes the gritting lorries cannot reach. This is all part of the Council's aim to keep the borough moving if another harsh winter arrives.
We will once again be as open and responsive as we can in communicating during any periods of harsh weather. We have the 'Gritter Twitter' service now up and running once again, providing daily updates on road conditions and informed followers when and where gritting crews will be salting roads throughout the borough. The Council's helpful winter maintenance webpage is also up and running. This provides information on weather conditions and gritting runs and also updates if school or adult transport services are affected by bad weather.
The Council's grittertweets service is available at:
http://twitter.com/#!/grittertweets
The winter maintenance webpage is available at: