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Cabinet updates winter gritting guidelines

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Red Rose Lancashire

Lancashire County Council has agreed to adopt national guidelines for treating roads during the cold winter weather.

The aim is to make sure that people can still get around safely, minimise delays to journeys during winter spells, and make more efficient use of road treatments.

Adopting the national guidance means that the highways teams will be able to adjust the amount of grit they are using depending on the road conditions.

Factors could include:

• Applying the appropriate treatment to wet, damp or dry roads.
• Traffic conditions, depending on the time of day.
• A more precise consideration of temperature.

The Cabinet agreed the recommendation at their virtual meeting today (Thursday 1 October).

County Councillor Keith Iddon, Cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “It’s really important that we make the most of the resources we have. Gritting is really important and by adopting these national guidelines, we can do this more efficiently.

“We’re already well underway with our plans for winter, which aim to help people to get around during winter weather, and keep our road network running where we can.

“Our investment in new gritters made in recent years has allowed us to be more precise with the rate of salt spread, which gives us the ability to follow these new national guidelines.

“We can’t grit every road and pavement for practical reasons, and the cost involved, but we have a clear policy in place each year to set out what we can do.”

The county council’s Winter Service Plan is published online annually before the start of the winter season, towards the end of October. It is updated each year to reflect any policy changes during the previous 12 months.

People can view all Cabinet items online at: council.lancashire.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=122&MId=10365.

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