City orders salt supplies early after winter freeze-up chaos

EARLY deliveries of salt should help Hull Council prepare better for a repeat of last winter's severe weather.

The authority has been carrying out its annual review of its performance in the wake of one of the coldest winters in the last three decades. A severe cold snap in 2008 also tested the council to its limits.

The council has now acted on national guidance and is placing orders earlier in order to build up supplies.

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Last year the prolonged freezing weather led to a national shortage of salt.

Hull Council will also be trialling a coated salt on one of its seven main gritting routes, which cut down the overall amount of salt used.

Salt bins will also be placed on flyovers and bridges after the bitter weather made some impassable, including Park Street Bridge, which connects Anlaby Road with Spring Bank, two of the main routes in and out of the city centre.

The report to the Environment and Transport Overview and Scrutiny Commission says that in severe weather conditions salt bins that can be used by residents, businesses and council staff "are to be established at all identified sites, where there is a steep incline".

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It also says that people working on community payback schemes as well as community wardens will be involved in clearing pathways, following a successful pilot last winter.

They will be under the control of area teams, which will be allowed to add extra streets onto their salting routine if they deem it necessary.

One issue was the accuracy of weather forecasts and Hull Council, along with other local authorities in the Humber, are looking at getting a new service for this winter, to help them decide when to spread salt and where.

The council will also be installing equipment to monitor the temperature of the roads to add to information it already gets from stations in the East Riding at Long Riston and North Ferriby.

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Businessman Barry Schofield, who chairs the Hull Business Forum Advisory Group, said the authorities had to be prepared for extreme weather – and more could be done tackling the potholes left in winter-damaged roads.

He said: "There are potholes all over the place. Quite a number have been filled in but not effectively and in another 12 to 18 months they are going to want filling again.

"We have to plan for extreme weather now – we have to do that for the future."

Three people made unsuccessful claims for compensation after slipping on icy pavements last winter.

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Hull Council said it believed it had done a good job last year – but was always trying to improve.

Meanwhile East Riding Council is also looking to increase its capacity following the national shortage and could build a new 6,000-tonne salt storage facility, to add to four other new "domes" at Beverley, Market Weighton, Carnaby and Hedon.

The cost of keeping roads open last year was more than 2m, way beyond the department's annual budget of 1.3m.

Research has shown that East Riding council tax-payers would like to see the council grit more footpaths more often and also increase the supply to its 900 salt bins.

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The council said it would need eight men and associated equipment to fill the bins every 10 days, and this would require about 300 tonnes of salt.

It may now prioritise which bins are resupplied as last year because of demand it found some bins were emptied within hours of them being filled.

The authority is already facing a bill of about 9.7m to repair damaged roads and has secured about 4.5m of the total cost.

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