Caithness Committee approves winter road plan
At the Caithness Committee meeting held earlier today (Monday 4 August 2025) , members agreed a winter maintenance plan for the area which includes priority road lists and maps showing the priority gritting routes.
Across Caithness there are 135km of Primary routes, 222km of Secondary routes and 49km of Other routes and these will be treated using 10 front-line gritters. Each vehicle treats, on average, 35.7km of primary and secondary routes followed by 5km of other routes.
Six footpath tractors will also be available. In exceptional situations, local contractors are available who can supply equipment and operators to assist in clearing deep snow at short notice.
The winter service will be delivered seven days a week when conditions dictate with operations beginning at 6am and can continue to 9pm. Primary routes are treated first; thereafter secondary routes and then all other routes are treated as resources permit. Exception to this will be where a gritter must travel across a secondary or other route to treat a higher priority road.
A Duty Officer rota will be in place to ensure that there is always a suitably qualified and experienced member of staff available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to take decisions on the deployment of appropriate resources to deal with the prevailing weather conditions.
The average annual usage of salt for the Caithness area is around 6,000 tonnes and the Council is well prepared with sufficient salt in all its depots. Grit/ salt bins are provided in accordance with the Highland Council Grit Bin Policy.
The bins are filled before the winter period. They are replenished regularly over defined routes as well as on an ad-hoc basis as required, subject to availability of resources.
During the winter there is on-going co-ordination between Council Services and the NHS to close any local gaps in the winter service at, for example, schools, care homes and housing estates.
Caithness Committee Chair Cllr Andrew Jarvie said: “Each year we put in place a Winter Maintenance Plan for Caithness that covers the operational details of how services will be delivered locally within existing budget and resources.
“To prepare for winter in Caithness requires a great amount of planning to ensure that the gritting policy, winter maintenance team and the equipment and supplies required are in place and ready to be implemented when the winter weather arrives.
“We have approved the list of priority routes for treatment, and I would encourage people to familiarise themselves with the gritting maps for their local area. It isn’t possible to treat every road and path, however, we have a dedicated and hard-working team of staff who always rise to the challenge of providing the best service possible even in the most extreme weather conditions.”
He added: “As in previous years we are keen to encourage communities to “self-help” as much as possible and to be aware of people within their local community who may need assistance from neighbours in clearing snow and ice or possibly shopping or accessing health and social services during extreme weather conditions.”
"The council recently updated its policy on requests for grit bins to make it more clear how communities can request one for their area or street.”
Community self-help is 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. 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 on the Council’s website.
National guidance supporting the public to be prepared for emergencies and extreme weather is available here