Roads and Transportation

Winter Roads Maintenance

Winter 2005/2006 Policy on Treatment Priorities

Carriageway Priorities

At the start of each Winter the Head of Neighbourhood Services will produce carriageway salting routes based generally on the following priorities.

Priority 1
Council strategic routes i.e., the A70, A713, A714, A719, A759, A79 and B743. This does NOT include the A77 and A78 trunk roads, which are the responsibility of the Scottish Government.

Priority 2
a) Access routes to hospitals with accident & emergency units, ambulance depots and fire stations.

b) One access route to the main gate of Primary and Secondary schools during term time when schools are open.

c) Bus routes where considered appropriate by the Head of Neighbourhood Services. Bus routes included are, after consultation with Strathclyde Passenger Transport (SPT), primarily the major bus routes. The diversity of routes since deregulation and the frequent changes precludes the inclusion of all bus routes.

Priority 3 - 'A' class roads & 'B' class roads not included in Priority 1

Priority 4 - Local concentrations of employment i.e. industrial estates

Priority 5 - Access to isolated villages

Priority 6 - 'C' class roads

Priority 7 - Unclassified roads

Priority 8 - Other Council roads

Priority 9 - Other roads

The routes may be amended by the Head of Neighbourhood Services during the Winter with an updated copy being made available for inspection by the public at the office of the Head of Neighbourhood Services.

Where a complaint / request for treatment is received for a location which has not been treated as part of the planned operations, the Head of Neighbourhood Services will determine what action can be taken. The Head of Neighbourhood Services will take account of the specific circumstances, the safety implications and the available resources in his determination. Resources may not permit the treatment of all requests.

Fixed salting routes are pre-planned to ensure that during "routine" winter conditions, priorities 1 to 3, plus some of priorities 4 to 6, will be treated. However under more extreme conditions (heavy snow falls or freeze/rain/freeze cycles) gritters may have to be concentrated on the higher priority roads until attention can safely be transferred to other roads.

The lowest categories, priorities 6 to 9 (minor rural and residential roads etc.) will be treated using available gritters if adverse conditions persist and all other routes are clear where instructed by the Head of Neighbourhood Services. Resources may not permit the treatment of all priority 6 to 9 roads (particularly cul-de-sacs etc.).

Carriageway priorities 3 to 9 and bus routes in priority 2 may not be treated between 2300 hours and 0500 hours (0700 hours on Sundays or Public Holidays).

When a decision is taken to commence reactionary treatment then the maximum time between the decision to commence any treatment activity and the actual start of work shall be one hour.

Within any section of a route identified for treatment, the maximum time permitted for the application of salt as a precautionary treatment will normally be 3 hours (i.e. time taken from beginning of spreading to completion of spreading).

Footway/Footpath Priorities
At the start of each winter the Head of Neighbourhood Services will produce footway, combined footway/cycleway and footpath salting routes based generally on the following principles.

Footways will be categorised as :-

Category A - Footway steps and the like.

Category B - Urban shopping areas and precincts.

Category C - Other areas of high pedestrian concentration e.g. in the vicinity of major hospitals and factories with large numbers of workers who walk to work.

Category D - Steep hills in housing developments and in the vicinity of Old Peoples Homes.

Category E - Other footways/ footpaths.

Footways shall be prioritised in accordance with the above categories into: -

Priority 1 - Footways which are identified as a priority, based on an assessment of associated risk

Priority 2 - Footways which are part of a carriageway salting route.

Priority 3 - Footways where the use of a non-corrosive treatment is required.

Priority 4 - Footways other than the above.

Footways in Priority 1 will generally be treated by 09.00 hours.

Footways in Priority 2 will be treated by overspill from any treatment instructed for the carriageway. It is recognised that there are a number of factors, gritter calibration, parked vehicles, carriageway width, position of salting vehicle on carriageway, verges between the carriageway and footway etc. which will affect the degree of treatment which will be applied to the footways.

Footways in Priority 3 and 4 will be treated if adverse conditions persist, all other routes are clear and resources permit where instructed by the Head of Neighbourhood Services.

Resources do not permit the treatment of all footways. They will normally only be treated during working hours.

Trunk road footways and footpaths in South Ayrshire are the responsibility of the Scottish Government and will not be treated by South Ayrshire Council unless a request for assistance is received. Should such a request be received from the Scottish Government, the Head of Neighbourhood Services will determine what action can be taken, based on the assessment of the trunk roads as Priority 1.

Grit bins will be placed at the locations detailed in the Plan at the start of the winter period and maintained throughout.

Requests for additional grit bins will be considered during the Winter Service review.

Provision of Salt
Salt and other de-icing materials will be produced in accordance with South Ayrshire Council's Standing Orders, by Environment, Land and Property, to ensure that stocks are at capacity at the start of the winter period and maintained at appropriate minimum levels throughout.

Salt storage facilities are located at:

Meadowhead Depot near Coylton
Grangestone Depot at Grangestone Industrial Estate, Girvan.

Rock salt shall comply with BS 3247 for de-icing Operations.

At the locations where the use of salt for de-icing is prohibited, an approved proprietary material shall be used in accordance with the manufacturers instructions.

Contact Numbers
For the convenience of the general public, a 24 hour facility for the reporting of hazardous road conditions and the like has been set up.

The contact number is 01292 612302. This number may be called at any time.

During office hours, Staff from South Ayrshire Council, Development, Safety & Regulation will be available to answer enquiries. Outside office hours, the calls will be taken by the South Ayrshire Council Monitoring Station where trained staff will record the defect report. Where appropriate, messages will immediately be passed on to the relevant staff. Non urgent reports will be advised to Development, Safety & Regulation staff on the next working day after the defect was reported.

The Roads And Lighting Faults number RALF is still available - 0800 37 36 35

The Scottish Government is the roads authority for trunk roads and motorways in Scotland. They have appointed Amey Highways Ltd as the trunk road operating company for the South West Scotland Unit. Amey are responsible for carrying out all trunk road maintenance including winter maintenance on the A77 and A78 trunk roads in South Ayrshire. The contact number for all trunk road maintenance activities is 0800 085 7136.