Kirklees Winter 2014/15

Kirklees Winter 2014/15

Working better together

Our three-phase theme…

1. What the council does

2. What individuals / groups /

organisations can do for themselves

3. What individuals / groups /

organisations can do to help others

Grit

• We use rock salt which is known as ‘grit’ but is about 99% salt.

• Grit works by lowering the temperature at which water freezes. It relies on the

action of vehicle tyres to spread it over the road for it to be effective.

• A grit for frost uses about 100 tonnes of grit and we pre-grit for frost to help

prevent accidents.

What the council does

• A grit for snow uses over 240 tonnes of grit. Grit is

not always visible. It’s much finer than it used to be

and fresh snow can still cover a gritted road.

• We begin with 25,000 tonnes of grit in preparation

for winter and this is stored throughout Kirklees at

purpose built storage sites.

Grit bins

• We have over 1,450 grit bins in Kirklees. This grit is for use on public roads and

pavements, not for private use.

• A programme to repair or replace damaged grit bins, and to fill them all, is

completed by end October 2014.

What the council does

• We help communities in severe weather

by providing grit for local use to support

vulnerable people and for those who meet

certain criteria such as volunteer farmers,

support workers or self-help groups for

example.

Provision and maintenance of grit bins

We have reviewed the provision and maintenance of grit bins and Cabinet approved

the following proposals:

What the council does

• To absorb the costs of the councillor funded grit bins (as the funding expires)

into the council’s winter maintenance budget. The grit bin service will

continue to be funded by this budget in the future.

• Cap the number of grit bins at the current level of

1,450 (as of March 2014) with no further increases in

grit bin numbers allowed.

• Ward councillors will continue to lead on the

distribution of existing grit bins, to meet local needs

and priorities within their wards.

Gritting vehicles (gritters)

• We have a modern fleet of gritting vehicles (plus reserves).

• We grit when needed - weekends included.

• Gritters work best in light traffic so we grit early or late. If traffic is heavy, our gritters cannot get through - and gritter drivers may struggle to get into work.

What the council does

• We aim to grit at 5am, before rush hour and again at 6pm, after rush hour (weather permitting).

• Gritters will not clear people’s drives.

Problems for gritters

Cars parked inappropriately, or just abandoned can cause problems for gritters if space is tight.

What the council does

• Gritters are wide vehicles, especially with the plough attached, so they need plenty of room between parked cars.

• This is also a problem for emergency vehicles such as fire engines and ambulances.

• If we cannot get the gritter along a road because parked cars are in the way, it will not be gritted.

Helping people plan their journeys

• We have several snow warning signs that we can activate via a text message.

These signs warn drivers about any road closures over the Pennines that may

affect them.

• We get up to date weather forecasts direct from the MET office and have weather

sensors around Kirklees. Daily updates are on the website:

www.kirklees.gov.uk/winter• We provide regular updates to the press and local

radio, particularly updates for breakfast bulletins.

• Up to date information is also available on social

media including Twitter @KirkleesWinter

• Our night patrols monitor the road situation.

What the council does

Gritting routes

We look after over 1,200 miles of road network and we grit 55% of this network in

response to forecasts. These priority routes can be viewed on the website:

www.kirklees.gov.uk/winter and are:

• main roads;

• main bus routes; and

• steep roads that provide important links to main roads.

What the council does

We aim to treat this priority network within two hours of

starting to grit.

Kirklees exceeds the national average of 30% for its

priority network.

Area based working teams

Our area based working teams work hard to treat and clear:

• Approaches to schools, hospitals, health centres and residential/care homes.

What the council does

• Town centres - to help support businesses and the

local economy.

• Access to activities that are important to people such

as weddings, funerals, exams and other events -

whenever possible.

• The main public car parks - under extreme

conditions.

The unpredictable

• Some weather conditions are extremely difficult to predict and there are

times when we simply cannot do anything to help.

• We carry out winter maintenance tasks in a certain order but in extreme or

prolonged weather conditions, we may have to change our plans and focus

on the things we can or need to do.

What the council does

• We have to prioritise what we do and react

differently to each situation.

• In emergency situations, Transport Services will

work with health and social services to help get

patients to hospital appointments that cannot be

postponed.

Other teams working on winter

Other Streetscene teams, and teams from other council services, contribute

towards the winter programme:

What the council does

• Streetscene staff liaise with voluntary groups and other

organisations such as schools, public transport companies

and hospitals to support their winter efforts.

• Winter maintenance staff work closely with the bin

collection service to make sure that all is done to allow the

service to carry out bin collections as close to their usual

timetable as possible.

• Kirklees Direct staff are available to take calls from 8am to 5pm weekdays, 8am

to 4pm Saturdays and 9am to 4pm Sundays - 01484 414700

• Out of hours staff deal with emergency situations such as damaged street lights,

accidents, flooding or assisting the police for example. Kirklees Direct’s out of

hours message will provide the number to use.

What individuals / groups / organisations can do for themselves

Encouraging involvement

We aim to raise awareness of what individuals / groups / organisations are

responsible for and what they can do for themselves by:

• Promoting the Snow Code - information on clearing snow and ice from pavements:

www.metoffice.gov.uk/get-ready-for-winter/out-and-about/the-snow-code

This website gives clear guidelines for people clearing their own driveways, and legal

implications for people clearing pavements and other public areas.

• Providing regular tweets, press and local radio

messages and other press activity to keep the public

updated and help them make informed decisions about

their winter arrangements.

• Support for schools by providing key messages for

schools to include in newsletters for example, to help

keep parents and carers informed.

What individuals / groups / organisations can do to help others

Enabling people to help others

In winter weather it is ‘all hands to the pump’ including involvement of many valued

volunteers. We aim to raise awareness (via the website and other publicity) of what

individuals / groups / organisations can do to help others by:• Providing grit for self-help groups to help vulnerable people in their communities

by clearing their driveways or paths for example.

• Promoting volunteering and self-help groups via ward councillors, targetting those who have volunteered in the past.

• Working with 4x4 or tractor drivers who offer to help.

• Encouraging the use of Twitter and other social media for people to tell us, and others, what they have done and to share their ideas and photographs.

• Asking people to keep an eye out for neighbours.

Thank you for listening

Working better together

The council has limited resources and restricted budgets but our staff are committed to providing the best possible winter service -

with your help and support.