County Council gritters on standby for cold snap

The Met Office is forecasting wintry showers throughout Sunday, January 13 and overnight on Monday, January 14, accompanied by sub-zero temperatures and the possibility of sleet and snow.

The County Council’s contractor Balfour Beatty has a fleet of 24 gritting vehicles on standby to grit 21 key routes across the county.

About 4,000 tonnes of salt is stockpiled at the four depots located within West Sussex, with more available from suppliers elsewhere in the UK should it be needed.

Hippo bags of salt have been organised for those parishes with arrangements in place to store them.

County council cabinet member for Highways and Transport, Pieter Montyn, said: “We are fully prepared for any cold weather and ready to go.

“We constantly monitor the weather conditions and as soon as we see road surface temperatures getting towards zero, we make arrangements.

“If you are out on the roads this weekend, please take care and drive carefully.”

The authority’s priority is to keep major routes treated and passable during severe weather.

These are generally all ‘A’ roads (except the A23 and A27 which are looked after by the Highways Agency), most of the ‘B’ roads and other roads of local importance, such as major bus routes, roads to schools and hospitals and large industrial establishments.

Motorists can sign up to receive online updates about which roads have been gritted.

The ‘Gritter Twitter’ feed will provide updates on the weather, road conditions and gritting activity across the county.

People can sign up for the information on the social networking site Twitter by searching for @WSCCGritting.

Residents can also get severe weather alerts e-mailed to them by signing up to West Sussex County Council’s free ‘Alert Me’ service.

Visit www.westsussex.gov.uk for details.