Parish gritting scheme hailed as a success

Parishes and district councils across the county have snapped up the county council’s offer of extra grit and salt supplies to allow communities to grit their own roads.

Although last week’s winter snap which caused treacherous road conditions has now turned milder, communities have still opted for extra salt supplies to build local resilience.

A total of 79 parishes across the county have ordered their three-tonne batches of extra salt since Cumbria County Council's Core gritting group activated the parish gritting scheme last Thursday (February 9th).

The breakdown by district in terms of number of individual parishes requesting extra grit in the last week is as follows: Allerdale: 10, Barrow: 3, Carlisle: 6, Copeland: 7 Eden: 7
South Lakeland: 46

The parish gritting scheme system was formally introduced in 2010 to boost resilience and help communities help themselves during extreme conditions. However, before then extra grit was also provided to communities in the previous winter of 2009/10, but not through the formal scheme.

Self-gritting is designed to work alongside the extensive treatment programme the county council already delivers on its priority network of 1,500 miles of roads and pavements in Cumbria.

The conditions which trigger the scheme are still being monitored and reviewed so that the best possible balance between local resilience and not unnecessarily delivering grit to places it is not normally stored is struck. The council is acutely aware of the risk of salt being wasted and leaching into the ground if it is not stored by parishes in the correct places. The council's default position is that its own grit barns at it highways depots are the best place to store grit. Therefore parish gritting scheme should only be activated under certain circumstances.

The county council reviews its winter gritting arrangements annually and the ongoing operations of the parish gritting scheme will be reviewed again this summer.

The transfer of responsibility for day-to-day highways maintenance and gritting from its outgoing contractor Amey to an in-house county council service from April 1st 2012 will give a further opportunity for the council to review how it works with communities to deliver a truly local gritting service.

The county council’s long standing commitment is to work with all and any local parties to ensure it improves the safety and condition of the county’s highways.
Cllr Tony Markley, Cumbria County Council’s cabinet member for highways, said: "We started delivering the grit immediately after activating the scheme and I was pleased with our response to last week’s hazardous conditions. Even though the weather has turned milder now, the additional salt is now out there in communities ready for another cold snap. We’re still developing and refining how we work in partnership with local communities to deliver the most efficient and effective gritting service."