Aberdeen’s roads and pavements winter gritting plan with an anticipated spend of £1.57million was agreed by councillors at Operational Delivery committee today.
A report to committee about the Roads Winter Service Plan said if winter conditions are more severe additional budget would be spent - the total spend for the previous three winters was £1.37m in 2021/22, £2.1m in 2020/21 and £1.339m in 2019/20.
Routes will revert to those used for winter 2019/20 with minor changes to accommodate changes to the roads network such as the new layout at the Haudagain roundabout.
Aberdeen City Council Operational Delivery Committee Convener Councillor Miranda Radley said: “It is good to hear that our services are ready for the oncoming winter. We know that our staff cannot be everywhere at once but they do go above and beyond to ensure the city’s key roads and pavements are kept gritted according to the agreed prioritised plan.”
Aberdeen City Council Co-Leader Councillor Ian Yuill said: “The City Council is prepared for a bad winter - although we all hope this winter will be mild. The one-tonne community salt bags and big community salt bins also mean people can spread grit in their own areas if they wish.”
The report said it is not feasible to salt every road, pavement, and cycleway around the city at the same time so they are being prioritised, with main routes given top priority. Roads are split into priority one, two and three routes, and pavements/cycleways are split into priority one and two routes.
The report to committee said this coming winter will see a significant increase in costs with salt prices up around 25% and fuel prices increased, coupled with the loss of ability to run the gritting fleet on red diesel, as previously (white diesel is currently just under 30% more expensive).
The report said changes in winter weather behaviour which have presented new challenges have been observed over recent years. During the last three winters, there have been occasions where the service has been dealing with flooding in the east of the city whilst tackling snowfall to the west, a phenomenon which had not previously been observed and is logistically challenging to tackle.
Freeze-thaw patterns also appear to be changing as it has become commonplace to have a repeating cycle of rain during daylight hours followed by overnight freezing. This effectively limits how much of the city can be gritted as the daytime rain washes off salt spread during morning grits, therefore requiring these routes to be re-run, where continuously low temperatures would allow the service to move onto lower priority routes.
The report to committee said salt stock levels have been taken back up to about 11,500 tonnes - 4,820t was used last year - and this stock can be topped up with regular programmed deliveries throughout winter.
There are currently more than 900 salt bins throughout the city based on historic requests and the committee agreed to continue the policy of not issuing any additional salt bins but to further promote the issue of 1 tonne bags of salt for community use.
The one-tonne community salt bags are given to residents or community groups willing to carry out self-help winter treatment. There will be a cut-off date for applications of 31 October.
In addition, there are 20 large capacity grit bins from which the public can collect salt in locations such as supermarket or community centre car parks.
The report to committee said staff processes and procedures developed for the pandemic will be used again if required.