North Ayrshire's plan to clear roads

Feb 13 2009 Irvine Herald

Gritty plan to clear roads

SEVERE weather warnings were issued in the Irvine and Kilwinning areas on Sunday and Monday nights after the heaviest snowfall of the year so far.

And the snowfall has been so great that North Ayrshire Council have had to come up with a plan to dilute their salt supply with sand in a bid to cope with more snow.

The council say that, unlike their English counterparts, they have a plan to make sure they have enough salt to grit the roads.

On Tuesday, Ronnie Small, Head of Infrastructure and Design Services at North Ayrshire Council, said the council was on top of the situation: “Up until now, salt stocks have been good.

“Overall, weather conditions are beginning to affect supplies and anticipated conditions over the next few days will affect salt stocks and supplies.

“At present, the Highways Agency in England has taken control of salt supplies and, if the situation deteriorates, a similar set-up could be implemented in Scotland. Here, as a fallback, salt would be diluted with a sand and grit mixture, the focus would be on priority routes and salt would be issued for priority uses.”

Freezing temperatures were set to continue and the Met Office predictions for Wednesday and Thursday this week were, on average, minus 4°.