Winter service plan for 2025/26 approved for Inverness Area
At the Inverness City Area Committee held earlier today (Monday 18 August 2025) , members agreed a winter maintenance plan for the area which includes priority road lists and maps showing the priority gritting routes.
Across the Inverness Area there are 332km of Primary routes, 2257km of Secondary routes and 448km of Other routes and these will be treated using 17 gritters and 10 footpath tractors.
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; followed by secondary routes and then all other routes are treated as resources permit.
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 Inverness area is around 10,000 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 and care homes.
City Leader, Cllr Ian Brown said: “We urge communities in the Inverness area to make themselves aware of the council’s gritting priorities for roads and footpaths so that they are prepared for the winter impacts in their community”
Once again community self-help is being encouraged under the Councils Winter Resilience scheme. Local 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.
Cllr Brown 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.”
“My advice is not to wait until it snows to ask for support in your community. Now is the time to apply through your community council for help .The council has recently updated its policy on requests for grit bins to make it more clear how communities can request one for their area or street.”
https://www.highland.gov.uk/directory_record/2204596/grit_bin_policy
National guidance supporting the public to be prepared for emergencies and extreme weather is available at www.ready.scot