True Grit!

The summer sun may have been shining, but earlier this week I signed off a decision to order 3,000 additional tonnes of salt from Sweden for the roads in the winter. The Council has had salt on order from domestic suppliers for months, but a severe national shortage means they cannot even guarantee delivery by the winter. Clearly the fact that all local authorities are struggling to get hold of stocks would be no consolation to anybody if we were to face another winter like the one just gone, so I was adamant that we must the extra mile (or extra thousand miles!) to find salt stocks and make sure we are as well prepared as possible to help keep people safe on the roads and to keep schools, hospitals and businesses open.

The shortage of salt is not just a problem here - it is also scarce in the international market - but a supply was located in Sweden, and as a result we will be going into this winter with 3,000 tonnes of additional salt.