Winter Roads Maintenance Plan for Dingwall & Seaforth approved for 2022/23

Members of the Dingwall & Seaforth Area Committee agreed the 2022/23 Winter Maintenance Plan when they met on Monday, 22 August.

The approved plan includes a road map of prioritised gritting routes and is available to view here (Appendix B & C).

Across Ross and Cromarty there are 29 front-line gritters available and 11 footpath tractors.  Of these, there are six gritters serving the Dingwall and Seaforth area.

The treatment of roads will be carried out based on a hierarchical system dependant on route priority:

• Primary (Highest) – Treated from 6am to 9pm Monday to Saturday, generally covering all the A class roads and some B class and including main commuter routes in the larger urban areas. 

• Secondary – Treated mostly after the primary network has been completed between 6am and 6pm Monday to Saturday and covering roads which in general connect smaller communities to the primary network.  On bus routes, gritting will not necessarily be completed before buses start their journeys. 

• Other – These are minor rural and local access and residential roads.  These roads are treated as resources become available.

The total lengths of each prioritised gritting routes in the Dingwall and Seaforth Area are:

• Primary – 35.6 km (making up 27% of the Ward’s total road network);
• Secondary – 58.4 km (making up 45% of the Ward’s total road network); and
• Other – 35 km (making up 28% of the Ward’s total road network)

The time taken to complete the treatment of routes will vary from day to day depending on actual weather conditions and can be expected to increase significantly during periods of snow due to having to plough both sides of the road.

On the public holidays of 25 December and 1 January the service will be provided between 7am and 9pm and will be restricted to the Primary network only.  During periods of sustained snow, or where significant snow conditions are forecast, the service may be extended to include difficult Secondary routes.

On 26 December and 2 January the service will be provided between 7am and 9pm and treatment will be restricted to the Primary and Secondary networks only. Where December 26th and January 2nd fall on a Saturday or Sunday then a standard weekend service will be provided.

The Council also encourages communities to “self-help” as much as possible and to generate awareness of people within their community that may need assistance from neighbours in clearing snow and ice or possibly shopping or accessing health and social services during extreme weather conditions.

Community self-help is also being encouraged under the Councils ‘’Winter Resilience’’ scheme whereby communities can submit an application via their community council to carry out footway gritting operations within an agreed area. The Council will provide the community with salt/grit, bins, scrapers and reflective waistcoats.

Salting will not prevent roads from icing up in extreme conditions – this is particularly relevant on low traffic roads where there are insufficient vehicle movements to aid the interaction between the salt and the ice crystals.  Local people are therefore reminded that:

• Drivers should take account of prevailing weather and road conditions
• Winter weather conditions within the Highlands can be very localised
• Black ice can be a particular danger. You cannot see it and it can still be there even after treatment
• Dawn frosts can also catch drivers unaware. At first light a clear sky will allow heat to radiate quickly from the road surface causing icy patches to form on wet or damp roads.

Dingwall and Seaforth Area Committee Chair, Cllr Graham Mackenzie, said:  “Members of the public are reminded that they can apply for self-help assistance through community councils for salt/grit bins, scrapers and reflective waistcoats where they feel this is most needed in their communities.  It is important to note that this does not replace the service provided by the Council but allows the community to provide an enhanced level of service.”

Applications for the Winter Resilience scheme can be made at: https://www.highland.gov.uk/downloads/download/836/winter_resilience_community_aid