STOCKS of salt are being delivered in Calderdale ahead of winter setting in.
The council has taken delivery of 17,000 tonnes of salt which is being stored at three depots.
As the Examiner has already revealed, Kirklees Council has bought 25,000 tonnes of grit – more than four times the 6,000 tonnes recommended by the Government. It’s enough to do 166 gritting runs.
Calderdale is now almost fully stocked, taking another large delivery yesterday in preparation for whatever winter plans to throw at it.
Dave Tee, acting head of Highways, said of the 17,000 tonnes of salt: “That would usually be enough to cope with two to three normal winters.
“But bearing in mind the extreme weather conditions that we experienced last year and the difficulties that all councils had in replenishing their supplies, we’ve ordered enough salt to cope in the event that this winter is as bad as last year’s.”
Depots are almost full now and priority routes are being finalised.
“Hopefully, because we have ordered our supplies early we will have enough salt to cope with whatever the weather throws at us this winter and keep all of our major routes open,” Mr Tee added.
If the snow sets in the clearance of pavements near schools, nurseries, doctor’s surgeries and residential care homes will be carried out in addition to the existing snow clearance service.
And up to 100 extra salt bins are to be placed at priority locations due to be set.
A fleet of 23 gritters will work covering over 600km – around 67% – of the borough’s road network. Primary salting routes are made up of classified roads, most bus routes, major through routes between towns, villages and large residential areas and routes to emergency service premises.
