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Aberdeenshire Council gearing up to tackle the winter season ahead





A local authority is once again ready to respond to the challenges of the winter season in order to keep pedestrians and traffic safe and moving.

Aberdeenshire Council services have been getting a fleet of gritters and support vehicles ready for action and stocking up on salt and grit, while councillors last week agreed the Roads Winter Maintenance Policy on how it will respond to all cold weather conditions.

Aberdeenshire Council's snow ploughs are ready for what the upcoming winter may bring.
Aberdeenshire Council's snow ploughs are ready for what the upcoming winter may bring.

And it’s hoped that the ever-growing population of Snow Wardens who generously volunteer their time to help with clearing and gritting in their communities will expand even further this winter.

Aberdeenshire’s resilient communities and Snow Wardens play a vital role in helping to support the council’s winter maintenance approach.

The local authority scheme is growing in popularity and actively supports members of communities by supplying them with equipment, PPE and training to manually clear snow and grit publicly-adopted footways.

These self-managing groups of community-spirited residents jump into action whenever they are required – providing help in both residential areas and in town centres to bolster the council’s own efforts.

Some groups have asked for mechanical equipment to help their efforts and the local authority is investigating various options.

People have been encouraged to join the council's Snow Warden scheme.
People have been encouraged to join the council's Snow Warden scheme.

New volunteers are always welcome – find out more at https://bit.ly/AbshireSnowWardens

The region can be severely impacted during the winter – be that through rain, heavy snow or freezing temperatures.

While the council is hoping to avoid excessively harsh conditions, crews will remain on-call 24/7 from now until April to deal with winter conditions.

The local authority has a variety of equipment and vehicles for use to keep Aberdeenshire’s 3500-mile roads network and 925 miles of footway in a serviceable and safe condition, including:

• 55 gritters

The local authority has been getting deliveries of salt in preparation for the icy conditions.
The local authority has been getting deliveries of salt in preparation for the icy conditions.

• 48 footway gritters

• 14 mini gritters

• 15 ploughs and blades

• 13 loading shovels

• Three snow blowers

• 2000 grit bins

Support is also provided by landscape and waste services, with paid-for external resources also being used including contractors and farmers.

Historically the council has used between 36,000 and 45,000 tonnes of salt annually to ensure roads and footways remain safe for all users, with regular supplies coming in from Aberdeen port.

The pre-season restocking of salt began this week, with more than 10,500 tonnes expected to be delivered by the end of the month.

Aberdeenshire’s primary road network receives preventative treatment with gritters and ploughs starting a morning treatment at 5.40am when required and finishing an evening treatment no later than 9pm each day.

On the minor routes, gritting is undertaken if sub-zero road temperatures are forecast for 48 hours.

Council teams use the latest weather forecasting technology in planning its gritting operations with the over-riding aim of keeping priority one roads passable at all times unless weather conditions are particularly severe.

The local authority is introducing a number of additional live camera feeds so that operations can be targeted more effectively and this will also be made available to the public to monitor the conditions of roads they are likely to be using.

Between the hours of 9pm and 5.40am an emergency response is provided if requested by any of the emergency services.

This retains the council’s 24-hour service capability while ensuring a level of consistency.

Councillor Alan Turner, chairman of the council’s infrastructure services committee, said: “Last winter was a long, drawn out affair and the icy conditions required a lot of gritting rather than the removal of heavy snow.

“That placed a considerable pressure on our staff, however once again our dedicated teams worked tirelessly throughout the challenging conditions and really did go above and beyond to ensure our roads and footways remain safe and passable wherever possible.

“As a council we’re always hoping for a mild winter but as we saw last year it can last far longer – and cost us a lot more – than anticipated.

“I would like to reassure all our communities that we do have a strong winter maintenance programme in place, however while our teams and crews will do all they can to help keep traffic moving, it’s also important for all road users to proceed with caution and to consider whether their journey is absolutely necessary.”

ISC vice-chairwoman Councillor Isobel Davidson said: “Our winter maintenance operations are a major and expensive undertaking for our roads teams and other services, but we know our communities value all the efforts our crews and support contractors go to year after year.

“That appreciation is certainly extended to all our wonderful Snow Wardens who undertake a huge amount of snow clearing and gritting in their own time free of charge to support our own efforts.

“I would encourage more of our communities to consider volunteering, to band together in times of need during the winter and really play their part in keeping Aberdeenshire moving.”

The myAberdeenshire app can also be downloaded to live-track gritters as they carry out treatments, request grit bin refills, request a new grit bin, and much more https://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/my/mobile-app/

For more information on all the council’s winter services visit: https://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/roads-and-travel/roads/winter-maintenance/

To see the local authority’s planned gritting for each day, go to: https://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/roads-and-travel/roads/winter-maintenance/gritting-routes/#plannedgritting

For information on road closures and restrictions, go to: http://bit.ly/Road-closures

People can also follow roads updates from the team on X @AbshireRoads where further information is available.


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