Council is ready to keep East Renfrewshire moving this Winter

East Renfrewshire Council is fully prepared to keep the area moving this winter, with more than 4500 tonnes of salt in stock.

Article Source: East Renfrewshire Council
Last Updated: 25 November 2017 15:21

The council’s dedicated crew of road workers are ready to drive 13 grit lorries, treating 313km of roads.

The team will be on standby 24/7 until the end of April with more than 4500 tonnes of salt and 500 tonnes of grit stockpiled and ready to hit the roads and footpaths across East Renfrewshire.

Our 319 street bins and 18 larger community bins located across the area will regularly be topped up so residents can help themselves and their local areas that the Council cannot treat.

East Renfrewshire has 475km of roads. That's enough to go from here to Edinburgh and back three times. 313km of this is treated as a priority route - this is around 65 per cent, more than most councils treat.

The team is primed for action as soon as information from our dedicated weather forecasting service serves notice of severe weather. The focus is to make sure priority roads are gritted first before moving on to local streets and pavements.

They focus on gritting:
• main 'A' roads
• access to fire stations
• bus routes to schools
• main bus routes, and
• routes to local employment areas

Councillor Tony Buchanan, Leader of East Renfrewshire Council, said; "A huge amount of work by dedicated staff goes into keeping East Renfrewshire moving in the winter months.

“Whilst we always aim to provide the best possible service, we cannot guarantee that all roads will always be completely free of ice and snow. Sometimes freezing weather happens at the same time as peak traffic levels. This makes it difficult for gritting vehicles to get on to the road network.

"Even when we have salted the roads, it takes time for it to work; rain can wash the salt off roads and they may ice over again and in severe weather conditions, even salting will not prevent the roads from icing up. In severe conditions we may have to continue treating our main routes until such times as they are considered safe before we can attend to minor roads. If you are out on the roads in bad weather, please take account of the weather conditions.

“We cover a huge portion of our priority routes and have over 300 street grit bins and some larger community bins in key locations so residents can help themselves and their neighbours by treating their local areas and routes. By communities coming together and doing their bit, we can ensure East Renfrewshire keeps moving this winter.”

More information about preparing for winter in East Renfrewshire is available at www.eastrenfrewshire.gov.uk/winter-maintenance