Winter Service Team gear up for first cold snap

Winter Service Team gear up for first cold snap

Bury Council’s Winter Service Team is at the ready for the first cold snapand will be out at midnight tonight carrying out their first grit run.

The first grit run of the season last year was on 5 November and the last was 5 months later on 5 April.The long winter of 2017/18 meant that the gritters were out treating the borough’s gritting routes twice as often as the previous year.

The Winter Service Team is made up of 5 vehicles, 16 drivers and four duty officers.Throughout the season each driver is on standby for 4 nights, followed by 12 nights off.All drivers hold the Winter Service City and Guilds qualification.

In preparation for severe weather, Bury Council has a stock of 2,500 tonnes of Safecote treated salt which is stored at Bolton Council’s depot to improve opportunities for sharing resources should the need arise. Safecote salt is used because it is coated with molasses and sticks to the road surface better.It is also less corrosive.

324 salt bins are in place at known trouble spots across the borough, such as where there are sharp bends or steep inclines and where historically snow and ice have caused serious problems.All bins are being re-stocked by street cleansing teams.

Decisions to grit or not grit and how many runs need to be carried out are based on the Winter Forecast Service provided by Metcorp. The service is activated whenever temperatures are predicted to fall below freezing.

Only roads and streets on the official gritting routes are treated, the service cannot cover all 650 km of road throughout the borough.

Councillor Alan Quinn, cabinet member for the environment, said:

“Our dedicated team are ready for action as the first bite of winter kicks in.Keeping Bury moving and keeping people safe is a priority, so our winter service team will be on standby 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, often working through the night until next April, including over Christmas and New Year.

“Over the months ahead forecasts will be constantly monitored so that we are able to pick the ideal times to send the gritters out.This sounds quite simple, but it’s actually a lot more complex than many people think.

“Last year we made a total of 114 grit runs treating 23,940 km of road, that’s further than from Bury to Madagascar and back, and we spread 3,353 tonnes of salt!”

For more information about the winter service, including a list of treated roads and streets, self-help salt bin locations and advice on clearing ice and snow from pavements, visit www.bury.gov.uk/gritting.

For all the latest updates and alerts from Bury Council follow @BuryCouncil on Twitter.

In the event that severe ice or snow delays bin collections, advice will be posted online at www.bury.gov.uk/bincollections.