Roads winter service plan 2015/16 approved
27 October 2015
A winter service plan for Aberdeen's roads and pavements was today approved at the City Council's Communities, Housing and Infrastructure committee.
The plan includes expenditure with the council's approved budgets for Winter Maintenance and Emergencies 2015/16 of £1.977million.
The report to committee said 10,000tonnes of salt were expected to be in stock. In 2012/13, 18,801tonnes of salt were used, in 2013/14, 5,600tonnes were used, and in 2014/15, 9,486 tonnes.
Aberdeen City Council's Communities, Housing and Infrastructure convener Councillor Neil Cooney said: "The Winter Services Plan sets out priority operations across the city but with all operations based on weather, it is not possible to alleviate risks completely and can only manage them."
The report said community groups can request free 1tonne salt bags for carrying out self-help winter treatment. The City Council has been in contact with ACVO which is interested in spreading word of the scheme to the wider community. The report said 71 bags were issued last year and the feedback was generally very positive. There are more than 900 salt bins throughout the city however the 1tonne salt bag scheme is to be further promoted.
The report said over the last four years, considerable investment has reduced the average age of the winter vehicles fleet. Further investment will continue, the report said, with the purchase of multi-use vehicles as these can quickly be converted to other specialist equipment such as gully emptiers when not required for gritting.
The report said a Winter Operations section was introduced on the City Council's website four years ago which provides information on current gritter and footpath plough operations along the daily updates on weather and road conditions.
The webpage is looking to be developed to further allow the mapping system to show live winter plant operations.
The report further said under the direction of the roads duty officer, environmental services and other front-line services provide additional resources as and when required to clean and salt the accesses to multi-storey sheltered housing, low-rise sheltered complexes, and social work premises.