Gritting in Caithness could start an hour earlier
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GRITTING of council roads in Caithness could start an hour earlier than in other parts of the Highlands.
That emerged after local councillors unanimously agreed to introduce a degree of flexibility in the programme so gritting can begin at 5am rather than 6am to help improve safety for the public.
The decision was made at the latest meeting of the area committee after Councillor Raymond Bremner, Wick and East Caithness, brought a motion before his colleagues. It came after a Stagecoach X99 bus on its way to Inverness last month slid down Whitechapel Road in Wick in the early morning and collided with the front of the Poundstretcher store.
No-one was injured in the accident but there was criticism about the lack of gritting on the road and pavements despite the freezing conditions.
Councillor Bremner said: "The reason I brought the motion to council was to allow the local officers to consider the information from the forecasting data and organise gritting at an earlier time, if necessary, to allow for treatment to be more effective by the time that commuters are taking to the roads and to make it a safer environment.
"We were aware the local community had faced some particularly icy conditions that week and may have been better prepared if we'd had the ability to start the programme earlier.
I’m hoping this will be a positive step towards reducing risk and improving safety.
"It’s absolutely impossible for our maintenance teams and officers to be able to treat all priority routes within an hour of their start time at 6am. With this in mind, I brought a motion to the meeting asking for the start time to be varied to 5am where the officers feel that this will be necessary in view of the forecast information they use.
"I’m hoping this will be a positive step towards reducing risk and improving the safety of our local community."
Councillor Bremner stressed that due consideration would be given to budget costs and rotas.
Meanwhile, Highland Council is ready for its winter programme. The council's roads are gritted according to priority routes approved by local councillors. Gritting is on weekdays, Mondays to Fridays, between 6am and 9pm.
Treatment after 6pm is generally restricted to primary routes only.
On Saturdays and Sundays, the service covers primary, strategic secondary and difficult other routes between 6am and 9pm. Treatment after 6pm is also generally restricted to primary routes only.
Trunk roads in the Highland region are the responsibility of Transport Scotland and its operator Bear Scotland.
A council spokeswoman said the local authority has adequate salt stocks for the region and uses around 50,000 tons in the winter season. "There are no concerns about future provision of deliveries from the council’s supplier," she said.
The winter fleet includes 105 gritters, 42 footpath tractors, two snowblowers and more than 200 staff.
Employees involved in winter services provision are trained to use the council’s weather forecasting service. The forecasts assist local decision-making on daily and longer-term winter services, she added.
