 A severe weather has been issued by
the Met Office including an Amber Warning for snow on Tuesday. The snow is expected to be accompanied by strong winds which will give very low wind chill temperatures. This will mean that there is potential
for travel delays on the roads and delays and cancellations to rail and air
travel.
The Met Office is
also warning that some rural communities may be cut off and there could be
power cuts and mobile phone services could be affected.
We are putting
preparations in place and implementing contingency plans to help the district
cope with the severe weather.
Preparation are in place for our gritter crews to be out covering priority routes in the district 24 hours a day for the next few days.
Our priority network of roads are monitored and gritted including bus routes, roads that carry the highest amount of traffic and includes access to hospitals and schools. This is 62% of our road network.
We always grit the priority routes first but where possible we will also consider gritting requests for other streets.
Find out about our gritting routes by entering a street name
 We try and reach all gritting requests when we have resources available but in busy wintry weather conditions we cannot guarantee that we will be able to attend.
Read our frequently asked questions about gritting, hopefully this will answer some of your questions.
The advice is to avoid unnecessary journeys but if you do have to drive, take care and be prepared.
In extreme conditions, ask yourself
- is your journey necessary.
- have you checked weather forecasts and road conditions and carefully considered the advice given.
- have you got plenty of fuel.
- does anyone know your destination and expected time of arrival.
- have you got warm clothing, hot drinks, food, Wellingtons, a torch and shovel with you.
If you park your car on a gritting route, please remember, a gritter is about twice the width of a car, so try and park so that our guys can get through to grit the roads.
 If the weather is bad, such as snow or icy conditions, we will collect where it is safe to do so. Where collections are delayed due to bad weather or transport problems, we will always try to catch up, so please leave your bin out where it is safe to do so, trying not to block the pavement and we will get there as soon as we can.
Please read about bin collections in bad weather and follow us on Twitter where we will try to keep you informed about any issues.
It is possible that there will school closures and disruption to some council services due to the cold weather and snow.
 Cold weather can lead to serious health problems and even kill so as temperatures drop please keep a eye out for your neighbours, family and friends who may be vulnerable to the cold weather.
People who have suffered from heart attacks, strokes or pneumonia; those who are 65 or over; or people with chronic health condition, are particularly at risk.
Working with our partners we have already opened its cold weather provision for rough sleepers. Additional beds are being made available and outreach workers are out making sure no-one has to sleep on the streets in the cold weather.
Everyone who stays for a cold weather bed is provided with support around resolving their housing situation on a longer term basis.
Anyone worried about someone sleeping on the streets can call 01274 309165.
 It's not just people that we need to look out for pets can also suffer in the cold.
|
