Harsh lessons of Big Freeze help councils plan for severe weather

Last winter, dubbed the Big Freeze, was the worst in 30 years and pushed council gritting teams to their limits as snow and ice caused havoc for motorists, and inflicted millions of pounds of damage to the road network.

But now Hull and East Riding councils plan to use the harsh lessons of last winter to improve their response when temperatures plummet this year.

"We have used the experience of last winter to plan for this winter, which should stand us in good stead," said Coun Mike Ross, portfolio holder for customer and neighbourhood services at Hull Council.

"We will keep reviewing the situation and react as and when needed."

The East Riding authority is taking a similar approach – but also urged motorists to make their own preparations for coping with another harsh winter.

A spokesman said: "Every year the council's winter services team puts in a vast amount of work in preparation for the winter season to make sure we have the right equipment and salt to keep the East Riding moving.

"The last two winters have been particularly long and cold and saw the team working at peak efficiency. This is the best possible training they could have to get them ready for this winter."

He added: "There is also plenty that road-users can do during the winter months to keep themselves safe.

"Before setting out drivers are advised to clear their windows, check and clean lights, check tyres and switch off their phone. In severe conditions useful items to keep in a car include warm clothing, a torch, a shovel and drinking water."

Both councils have invested in new and better gritting vehicles and have been stockpiling supplies of salt.

The East Riding declined to say how much salt it had, but it has been replenishing stocks over the summer and its storage depots are full. It built four new storage domes last year.

Hull Council has 3,500 tonnes of salt.

The city council, which is responsible for about 491 miles of roads, has seven new British-made gritting vehicles, which can carry a new coated salt that may reduce the volumes needed to treat the roads.

They will be expected to treat less than half the network.

A spokesman said: "Each day over the winter months we receive regular updates on predicted bad weather to see which of our services, if any, need to be deployed.

"We have an officer on call 24/7 which allows us to react quickly to unforecasted changes. In general, all the main bus routes are gritted along with all major roads and industrial estates.

"In all we cover 40 per cent of the city's roads with pre-salting, depositing about 80 tonnes of grit on each event."

After buying two new vehicles East Riding Council has 11 automated gritters in its fleet of 21 vehicles.

It has also bought two quad bikes to add to its existing pair, which are used to treat footpaths.

Following a review the council has increased the size of its gritting operation. It will treat more roads, more footpaths and some car parks for the first time, while also gritting some transport interchanges.

Both councils said it was too early to say whether the region should be bracing itself for another big freeze.

But they, and their taxpayers, will be hoping to avoid a repeat of last year when the cost of keeping roads open in the East Riding was more than 2m, way beyond the department's annual budget of 1.3m.