Brighton & Hove City Council - Winter service

Today's blog comes from Christina Liassides, Head of Highway Operations at Brighton & Hove City Council explaining the measures in place for dealing with snow and ice on roads in the city.

Brighton & Hove City Council produces a Highways Winter Service Plan every year, which sets out what we will do. The road network is treated throughout winter in advance of ice, frost and snow.

The Highways service has seven gritters, each with plough attachments, and one pavement gritter. In total, 192 miles or nearly 50% of our road network is treated, covering every main road and every bus route.

We prioritise routes so we can cover as much of the city as we can but we cannot provide a problem free network on every road, pavement and footpath .To give an idea of perspective, the miles of roads in the city are the equivalent of driving from here to Scotland, whilst the pavements laid end to end would get you to the south of France.

Pavements and some cycleways are also treated in snow conditions. We provide 420 grit bins in the coldest parts of the city for use on the public highway.

During winter, the majority of treatments involving the use of salt often go unnoticed because the salt prevents frost, ice and light snow from forming on the treated road surfaces.

It is snowfall that inevitably causes the most transport disruption and this is when people want to know how the winter service operates.

Routes are always pre-treated as much as possible before snowfall but snow will settle if it is persistent and/or heavy because the salt cannot prevent this.

In those conditions, our aim is to reclaim the network as quickly as possible, using a combination of operations such as grit/salt mix and ploughing if deep enough.

In extreme conditions, snow clearance is undertaken by staff from Highways, Cityclean and Cityparks. We may also use tractors and JCBs for hard-to-reach areas.

Our gritting prioritises the roads and pavements around transport hubs, central and local amenities, and bus routes to help residents and visitors get around the city. We do everything we can but always appreciate any additional help from local residents and businesses to help clear snow or ice from pavements.

More information is available at www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/snow

Any queries please email: wintermaintenance@brighton-hove.gov.uk or call 01273 292929

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