 To help residents understand the scale of work being undertaken to grit, and to clear snow and ice the latest briefing from Lancashire county council is attached below.
In addition, the Borough Council is helping the county council in clearing some shopping areas for pedestrians. For further details see the Borough Council website here
Lancashire county council briefing
Lancashire like the rest of the region and the county is facing some of the most sustained periods of very bad winter weather for something like 30 years. The indications are that this is set to continue for at least another week.
During this unprecedented period the county council has been gritting the main routes in Lancashire and has kept the county moving. We are still doing this at a time when other parts of the UK, including some in the North West, have had to stop gritting.
The county council is also keeping its important public services working, and in particular ensuring that vulnerable people such as the elderly are receiving the care they need.
There has of course been a huge demand on salt supplies, despite the prudent plans we made last year to prepare for the then likely winter weather. To make sure we continue to meet our commitment to keep the county moving we have prioritised our operations which means that all A and B roads plus a proportion of other important “main” roads are being salted. As is the case with other local authorities we are not able to treat side roads, pavements or fill grit bins. This is a situation we are keeping under regular review.
We did review our general policy after last year's winter and concluded that broadly it was robust and generally effective. This policy has worked in the sense that at no time has the county council failed to keep key routes open.
As of today the supply of salt is now being coordinated nationally by central government. So far the county council has been able to secure enough salt from its suppliers to continue its salting operations. We are hopeful that the national coordination will allow us to continue to treat the main routes around Lancashire.
Lancashire has one of the largest gritting operations in the UK which comprises 150 trained drivers, 48 frontline gritters, 16 reserve vehicles which are called into use in extreme conditions. The network we are currently treating as a priority amounts to 2,350 km.
The total length of roads in Lancashire is 7,000km and, in addition, we have 13 million square metres of pavements and footways. Despite the resources we have, we are not able to treat all roads and footways in the kind of extreme weather we are currently experiencing.
The kind of infrastructure that would been needed to treat everywhere would mean we require at least three times the amount of vehicles, staff and buildings as well as a corresponding increase in the amount of salt. This would mean a significant increase in budget and council tax at a time when local people are already facing difficult financial times. It's also the case that the investment would be unused most normal years.
We treat in the region of 35% of our roads as a top priority. Not only is this a higher proportion than other councils in the UK, we also have more roads than most other councils.
But we know that the conditions in Lancashire mean that many people are experiencing problems. We are proving support to individuals where we can, but also urging residents to think about whether they should travel and to offer their help to any vulnerable neighbours, friends and family.
9th January 2010 | 
