1.4 million tonnes of salt has been stockpiled in preparation for the snow (Image: GETTY)
The Local Government Association (LGA) is also asking communities to support council teams checking in on elderly and vulnerable residents after the Met Office issued a Yellow Snow Alert for the Midlands and north of England today. Snow is forecast to continue over the weekend, while the severe cold weather could increase the health risks to vulnerable patients and disrupt the delivery of services, prompting local authorities to issue an appeal to residents to play a part in helping to keep neighbours, friends and loved ones safe. Councils are prepared for the worst of winter’s freezing temperatures with 1.4 million tonnes of salt stockpiled and hi-tech gritters and street cleaning teams in action to keep roads safe.
The LGA’s annual Winter Readiness Survey has revealed how councils have prepared for the upcoming big freeze and any flooding this winter, with 94 percent having either more salt in stock for this year, or the same level as they did last year.
As well as an abundance of salt stockpiled, each council has an average of nine full-size gritters, alongside other equipment.
Highway teams are monitoring state-of-the-art weather forecasts with highly-trained staff on standby around the clock and some already deployed to grit thousands of miles of roads whenever temperatures plummet.
To cope with ongoing funding pressures and limited resources, more than half (55 percent) of councils will share salt stocks, 30 percent will share gritting machinery, and one in five (22 percent) plan to team up across their boundaries to send staff to key locations.
UK temperatures plummeted to -10.7 last night (Image: Met Office)
n addition to gritting roads and clearing snow drifts, councils will be looking out for the more vulnerable members of their communities this winter. Local teams will assist the elderly and vulnerable in their communities, from delivering hot meals to carrying out
