Are you ready for winter in Sutherland?

Sutherland Winter Services

The plan for winter service on prioritised roads and paths in the Sutherland area has been agreed by local councillors.

The area’s Winter Service Plan includes a categorised list of priority roads and gritting routes to help the Council to deliver a quality winter roads service across the area with the resources available.

Chair of Sutherland County Committee, Cllr Richard Gale said: “We have a large road network in Sutherland and our officers work extremely hard in often challenging situations to keep Sutherland’s roads as safe as possible. Working out of depots at Strathy, Tongue, Durness,  Kinlochbervie, Lochinver, Lairg, Ardgay, Dornoch, Brora and Helmsdale they cover around 1,336 kilometres of road.

“Preparation is essential to make sure that our priority roads and paths are consistently treated. Our area has an average annual usage of 9,000 tonnes of salt each year and before the start of the winter gritting season on 14th October officers ensure that there is sufficient salt in stock or on order across the depots in Sutherland.

The plan explains that primary routes are treated first, followed by secondary routes and then all ‘other’ routes as resources permit. Across Sutherland there are 534km of Primary routes, 248km of secondary routes, and 554km of other routes.

Information on the Council’s gritting route maps and policies can be found on the council’s website where applications from communities can also be made for the Winter Resilience scheme.  

Cllr Gale added: “We are keen to encourage communities to “self-help” as much as possible. This does not replace Council services but enhances winter maintenance in our area. We also ask people to be aware of others in their 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