Council Calls For Patience During Wintry Weather
23rd December 2009
The Highland Council's Convener Councillor Sandy Park is calling for patience when it comes to clearing Highland roads and pavements.
Since the recent wintry conditions have started the Council's entire fleet of 114 road, and 54 pavement gritters and over 200 winter maintenance staff have been working flat out within the Council's gritting policy to keep roads clear.
Councillor Park said: "We have the longest road network of any Council within Scotland and as such it is simply not possible to treat every road at the same time. 14% of Scotland's roads are maintained by The Highland Council and we are responsible for 4,200 miles (6,700km) of roads. We therefore grit roads under a priority system which targets roads based on their local importance.
"Because of the severity of the weather conditions it has not been possible to get to all third or fourth priority routes and therefore some rural and housing estate roads have not been treated. First and second priority routes which are main roads and bus routes have had to be repeatedly ploughed and re-gritted. Ploughing takes much longer than simply spreading grit and we have had deeper snow than for many years, combined with temperatures so low that the salt takes longer to act.
"I would ask residents and businesses to try to help by clearing the pavements in front of their own houses or shops where this is possible and to watch out for elderly relatives, friends and neighbours and help them."
He added: "Our winter maintenance staff are doing a great job with the resources available to them. They are not immune to the poor weather conditions as we have had 14 gritting vehicles off the roads since the bad weather started but all of them have been recovered and are back in action."
Information on the Council's winter gritting policy is on the Council's website at www.highland.gov.uk under "Winter Watch". Please note that there will only be a Sunday service (Priority 1 routes only) on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
Related Businesses
Related Articles
Yesterday, Thursday 16 May, representatives from the tourism sector in the Highlands gathered in Inverness to take part in a Sustainable Tourism Strategy Workshop hosted by The Highland Council. The meeting, which was well attended with representatives from across Highland and different interests, follows the launch of the Council's public consultation on its Draft Sustainable Tourism Strategy.
First Minister John Swinney has confirmed the opening of a £1.5 million fund to support councils in removing the impact of school meal debt from families across the country. Mr Swinney said this commitment will help ensure no child is penalised for struggling to pay for school meals as a result of the cost of living crisis.
Todays Audit Scotland report Local government budgets 2024/25 reveals how dire council budgets are. This makes many more cuts in services likely in coming years.
At the Highland Council Economy and Infrastructure Committee. (Thursday 2 May 2024) Members had the opportunity to review the work the Council is doing to progress active travel and improve road safety before approving the next steps.
At the meeting of the Economy and Infrastructure Committee members had the opportunity to review the last two years of the Community Regeneration Funding Programme before agreeing changes to how the 2024/25 programme will be delivered. Committee Chair, Cllr Ken Gowans said: "Following a successful two years, it is a good time to review what has gone well and what can be done better so we can continue to build on success, and seamlessly move the focus onto how best to support the delivery of projects." "With 279 live projects and over £6million of committed funds still to be claimed, there is no doubt as to the value and impact of the programme's potential.
The Highland Council's In-House bus service pilot project was launched in January 2023. The success of its first year of operation in delivering savings and creating a valued and reliable service was highlighted at today’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee.
Members of Highland Council's Economy and Infrastructure Committee today (2 May 2024) approved the local authority's draft Ecology Strategy and Action Plan which will now move forward to an 12-week public consultation. The Ecology Strategy sets out an ambitious set of actions to tackle biodiversity loss and address the ecological emergency.
Economy and Infrastructure Committee members today (2 May 2024) agreed to direct £100K from the Council's share of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) to fund a new staff training programme at the Inverness Castle Experience. The funding will enable the project team to provide specialist visitor attraction training to young people identified through partners at Developing the Young Workforce (DYW) and the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI).
The Housing and Property Committee met on Wednesday 1 May 2024 and noted the Housing Service performance report 2023/24 that met the agreed priorities and associated initiatives in the Local Housing Strategy 2023-2028. The report highlighted a number of achievements in 2023/24 in increasing housing supply.
Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council. Convener of the Council, Cllr Bill Lobban said: "I am delighted to say that Kate Lackie, Malcolm MacLeod and Allan Gunn have been appointed as Assistant Chief Executives with The Highland Council.
