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Council prepares for winter on the roads




3,500 tonnes of salt ready to be used

WINTER is coming and West Berkshire Council is preparing to keep the roads safe and gritted.

Council officers have asked that their winter service plan be approved, which will allow it to grit roads in the district.

The council says it aims to provide, as far as is reasonably practicable, safe travelling conditions on the district’s main roads during the winter.

The winter of 2014/2015 saw approximately 3,125 tonnes of salt sprayed on local roads.

Despite it being a relatively mild winter, the council treated the primary network, which includes all A and B classified roads, 48 times.

It also treated the snow clearance network, which covers bus routes and access routes to schools and doctors surgeries, on nine occasions.

The council’s salt stock at Chieveley depot will be 3,500 tonnes for the coming winter. Should the need arise the council has access to 2,000 tonnes of additional salt.

The council said that its contractors, Volker Highways Ltd, delivered a good performance and completed 97.4 per cent of routes within the contract time of three hours.

The council said that the maximum delay was only 50 minutes on one route and was due to a vehicle breakdown.

The winter service period will operate from Monday, November 2, to Sunday, April 3, 2016, although this period may be extended if weather conditions dictate.



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