Winter Maintenance Policy and Service Plan 2023-2024

Introduction

This Winter Maintenance Service Plan and Policy statement are based on the key principles for delivering best value in highway maintenance as recommended in the Department for Transport document –`Well-Managed Highways and Infrastructure Code of Practice’ published October 2016 and implemented in October 2018, incorporating the recommendations of the Institute of Highway Engineers National Winter Service Research Group.

The Council has a statutory duty under Section 41(1A) of the Highways Act 1980 to maintain the highway. The introduction on 31st October 2003 of Section 111 of the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003 extended that statutory duty by the addition of the phrase “In particular, a highway authority is under a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice.”

The Council also has a duty under Section 150 of the Highways Act 1980 to remove obstructions from the accumulation of snow from the highway.

The Council also has a duty under Section 16 (1)(a) of the Traffic Management Act 2004 to 'securing the expeditious movement of traffic on the authority's road network'.

Policies and objectives

The Council's winter policy statements are:

“To provide a Winter Service that ensures, so far as is reasonably practicable, that pre-defined routes of roads and footways are treated in accordance with their priority on the highway network and prevailing weather conditions.”

The objective of this policy is to minimise the risk to safety that highways users confront in winter conditions, secure the expeditious movement of traffic on the network, and minimise disruption due to the non-availability of the highway network through ice and snow. However, this Policy recognises that given the scale of financial and other resources involved in delivering the Winter Service, it is not practically possible to provide the service on all parts of the highway network, neither is it possible to satisfy the requirements of all those wishing to use the highway.

The Winter service plan is how the authority delivers the objectives of the stated overarching policy.

Client and Service Provider risks and responsibilities

The delivery of the winter maintenance service is the responsibility of South Tyneside Council as the relevant Highway Authority.

Those responsibilities include:

• Preparing and updating the Winter Maintenance Service Plan and obtaining its approval.
• Appointment of Winter Service Managers to undertake the decision-making process, who will instigate treatment for the forecasted ice formation or snow in accordance with this service plan.
• The management of finance for the normal expected level of operations and the authorisation of additional finance to fund extended operations at times of prolonged serious weather.
• Monitoring the performance of the Winter Maintenance Service in both the prime task of protecting the travelling public from the dangers of icy roads and footways and that value for money is obtained.
• Identifying the risk-based criteria for the roads and footways to be treated, the response that will be maintained and the priority order for treatment to be carried out.
• Instigating action upon the occurrence of sudden ice formation or snow.
• Maintaining adequate communications systems throughout the Winter Service period.
• The supply and maintenance of vehicles, for the application of salt, and the removal of snow.
• The preparation of salting and snow ploughing routes in accordance with the laid down criteria.
• Maintaining salt stocks to the level required to provide the service as detailed in this service plan.
• The provision of accommodation for the salt stocks and the operational base for the Winter Service operation.
• The provision and upkeep of an Ice Detection System, Weather Forecasting system and a data logging and archive system.
• The supply of technical advice for the Winter Service.
• Liaising with critical local services such as hospitals and major employers to ensure, as far as possible, that they are supported within the resources available.

Partnership or shared risks and responsibilities

The overall service is delivered by the Council's Director of Regeneration and Environment. Responsibility is then shared between the Infrastructure and Transport team (Road Salting), and Community and Place (Footway Salting). Day-to-day operations are devolved to the winter service duty manager and appropriate Streetscene managers for roads and footways respectively.

Decision making process and responsibilities

The winter service manager is responsible for the day-to-day operational decisions regarding provision of road gritting during both dayshift and nightshift and the timeliness thereof. They will be guided in their decisions by this service plan and the winter service manager’s instruction and guidance manual (Appendix A). Appropriately trained officers undertake this duty on a weekly rota basis.

The nightshift senior operative will receive the daily instruction from the duty manager by logging on to the Vaisala Manager system, disseminate the instructions to the drivers and commence gritting duties as instructed.

The winter service duty manager will also discuss the plan with the senior operative every night at the commencement of the shift to ensure the instructions are clearly understood.

The Streetscene managers are responsible for the day-to-day operational decisions regarding the provision of footway gritting services and the timeliness thereof.

After carefully evaluating the conditions, the Streetscene manager will establish the number of operatives available and any variance in conditions throughout their operational area. After gathering this information, they will prioritise their operational areas to ensure that they can assist as many residents as possible to go about their daily lives and safely access shops, businesses, and public transport. Consideration must also be given to elderly, disabled and disadvantaged residents so they can access supplies and services.

The respective winter service managers will record their daily decisions.

Precautionary treatments

These are the application of de-icers to road surfaces before the onset of freezing conditions (i.e. frost, snow, or freezing rain). The purpose of precautionary treatments is to prevent the formation of ice, or to weaken or prevent the bond of freezing rain or snow to road surfaces.

It is usually impractical to spread sufficient salt to melt freezing rain or more than a few millimetres of snow. Therefore, in advance of forecast snow or freezing rain, salt is spread to provide a debonding layer so that:

• snow is more readily removed by ploughing
• compacted snow and ice are more easily dispersed by traffic.

It is very difficult to remove a layer of compacted snow or ice that is bonded to the road surface, so precautionary treatments are essential before heavy snowfall.

Spread rates for precautionary treatments

The majority of winter service treatments (and salt spread) in the UK are precautionary treatments in response to predicted frost conditions.

For precautionary treatments when frost conditions are forecast, the Council have followed the guidance in 'NWSRG Section 8 Spread rates for precautionary salting'. The 'Medium' traffic definition and the 'Fair' spreader coverage is applied.

The appropriate rates to use depend upon the spreading capability, which in turn depends on the condition of the salt, spreader performance and calibration. The lower spread rates are used where the spreading capability is deemed to be 'reasonable', and the higher rates are used where the capability is 'modest'.

As South Tyneside's salt is stored outside and is not covered, the moisture content of the salt is difficult to manage and therefore classed as outside the 'optimum' range which results in increased spread rates by 20% as per the guidance.

Post treatments

Post treatments may involve the ploughing of snow, the application of de-icers and the application of abrasives to ice and snow present on the road surface, or some combination of these.

Although de-icers will melt ice or snow directly, it is normally impractical to apply enough de-icer to melt all a moderately thick ice or snow layer.

Ploughing is the only economical, efficient, effective, and environmentally acceptable way to deal with all but very light snow.

Following extreme snow events snow should, if possible be removed from secondary roads by mechanical means prior to the application of salt to the cleared road surface.

Monitoring

The condition of routes should be monitored following treatment in order to confirm that the treatment has been effective. If it has not been fully effective, contingency treatments should be considered to achieve the required condition. It should be noted that both active and passive road weather sensor systems require the presence of moisture to determine either the concentration of an anti-icing chemical on the road or the freezing point temperature of the solution present on the road sensor.

Liaison and communication arrangements with other authorities and other public services

This winter service plan and the associated gritting routes will be made available to neighbouring authorities and trunk road maintenance agents that pass through the borough.

Regional winter managers for the North East of England from Stockton to Northumberland meet as required to share best practice and to promote inter authority coordination and cooperation.

Contact information is exchanged between the authority and public transport operators to facilitate the sharing of up-to-date road condition and weather information. This will enable the various travel operators to update their customers by their preferred means.

The winter service managers are issued, at the start of the winter season, with the winter service manager lists and contact numbers for the other Tyne and Wear authorities.

Throughout the winter the maintenance agents for the A19 and A184 forward their proposed treatment information to the authorities through whose area their roads pass.

Liaison with other public services such as emergency services is undertaken depending upon the particular circumstances.

Winter risk period

Overall Winter Period. The provision of weather forecasting services commences on the 1st of October and runs to 30th April.

A limited permanent gritter driver nightshift and activation of the winter service managers duty rota commences on or about 17th October.

Core Winter Period. The Core winter period runs from 1st November to 31st March.

The full gritter driver nightshift cover commences on or about 1st November. This permanent core nightshift cover runs until 31st March when, if weather permits, the gritter driver numbers are reduced and then operate until about 14th April when conditions should allow the service to be terminated for the season.

Days Resilience (Overall Winter Period) 12 Days.

Resilience standard

In accordance with current guidance, we work to the minimum resilience recommended in 'NWSRG Section 4 Salt Storage'.

Recommendations on winter resilience for English Local Highway Authorities were provided by The Quarmby Report of 2010, with the recommendation that authorities should have sufficient pre-season stocks of salt for 12 days/48 runs (assuming each run at 20g/m²).

Initial Minimum Resilience for the full winter period has accordingly been calculated based upon heavy snow for a period of 12 days with assumed treatments of 20 grammes per square metre on each of the four priority routes with 4 successive treatments on each day.

The following table 1 for minimum salt stock levels is based upon the advice in NWSRG Section 4 Salt Storage:

The Minimum salt stock for both the core and overall winter period is therefore 2140 tonnes (to the nearest 5 tonnes).

Legislative background

In England and Wales Section 41 (1A) of the Highways Act 1980 was modified on 31st October 2003, by Section 111 of the Railways and Transport Act 2003. The first part of Section 41 now reads:

1. The authority, who is for the time being the Highway Authority for a highway maintainable at the public expense is under a duty, subject to subsections (2) and (3) below, to maintain the highway.
2. (1) In particular, a highway authority is under a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice.”

This is not an absolute duty, given the qualification of “reasonably practicable” However Section 150 of the Highways Act 1980 still imposes a duty upon authorities to remove any obstruction of the highway resulting from “accumulation of snow or from the falling down of banks on the side of the highway, or from any other cause”.

In addition, the Traffic Management Act 2004 placed a network management duty on all local traffic authorities in England. It requires authorities to do all that is reasonably practicable to manage the network effectively to keep traffic moving. In meeting the duty, authorities should establish contingency plans for dealing promptly and effectively with unplanned events, such as unforeseen weather conditions, as far as is reasonably practicable.

Given the scale of financial and other resources involved in delivering the Winter Service it is not reasonable either to:

• Provide the service on all parts of the Network
• Ensure running surfaces are always kept free of ice or snow, even on the treated parts of the network.

Carriageway routes by risk level

There are six different categories of Carriageway gritting response:

• Priority 1 are major roads and bus routes (pre-treatment). There are four priority 1 routes that generally comprise all classified roads and bus routes. These routes which includes the full resilient network, cover 160km of road network, which is 27% of the total network length.
• Priority 2 are town Centre parking areas and some minor roads (pre-treatment nightshift only) There are two priority two routes that generally comprise town centre car parks
• Priority 3 are estate feeder roads (post treatment dayshift only). These are the internal estate feeder and through roads comprising 7 different routes
• Spot gritting-based upon thermal map information and scouting on marginal nights
• Emergency routes-for use only if the weather changes without warning and there is not sufficient time to treat the main routes
• Minimum routes—only to be utilised during times of severe salt shortages—there are two pre-defined minimum routes prepared for externally imposed salt saving requirements. These routes detail a 25% and a 50% reduction in the primary routes
• Details of road salting routes are detailed in Appendix B
• The routes are reviewed regularly and are altered when the network changes i.e. Lindisfarne and The Arches.

Response and Treatment Times for all Carriageway Treatments

Due to the maintenance of a permanent nightshift operation the response time from issue of instruction to the gritters leaving the depot to commence gritting operations will be within 1 hour.

The time taken to complete any gritting route using a standard 20 grammes application rates should not exceed 3 hours.

Routes for Footbridges, Subways, and other High-Risk Pedestrian Areas

There are 7 different categories of footway gritting route that we would prioritise in the following order:

• Steps, Footbridges, Ramps
• Shopping Areas
• Steep Footpaths, Outlying Areas
• Busy Footpaths (identified by highways)
• School Locations
• Public Buildings
• Residential Care Homes

Response and Treatment Times for Footway and Cycle Route Treatments

The response time for the treatment of all footpath and cycle routes is dependent on the resources available to the Streetscene manager and the severity of the weather conditions. We would always react to forecasts of inclement weather and prioritise resources to enable as many residents as possible to go about their daily lives in safety.

Routes for Other Footway and Cycle Route Treatment by Risk Level

• Steps, Footbridges, Ramps
• Shopping Areas
• Steep Footpaths, Outlying Areas
• Busy Footpaths (identified by highways)
• School Locations
• Public Buildings
• Residential Care Homes

Allocation of Plant, Vehicles, Equipment, and Materials to Routes

The authority lease a fleet of five purpose built, 6 tonne capacity gritting wagons with detachable ploughs which allows the four priority 1 Carriageway Salting routes to be undertaken simultaneously with the extra vehicle providing resilience in the case of breakdowns.

When the priority 1 routes are completed the same vehicles may then commence the priority 2 routes if required.

Priority 3 routes are only salted by dayshift during prolonged weather events when all main roads are clear.

Location and Maintenance of Salt Bins and Grit Bags

Salt storage bins are located on the highway across the Borough at potential problem locations. They are generally not sited on the primary salting routes and are provided for public use on the public highway and to support footway-salting operations. A list of these is shown in Appendix C and displayed on the Council's website.

All salt bins are inspected prior to the winter season by the highways staff. Litter and contaminated salt are removed, and all bins refilled.

Salt bins will be restocked during the season at the discretion of the duty manager as resources allow.

The Council will consider requests for the provision of salt bins where:

• The highway is on a steep incline (with a gradient over in 25)
• The highway connects to major roads or other junctions on a downward incline leading to the major road
• The highway contains severe bends
• The highway carries high levels of traffic

The decision on whether to provide a grit bin will be based on consideration of the location meeting 2 or more of these factors and where there is a convenient area to site the grit bin and, in the case of residential areas, where the majority of residents are in favour of the proposals to provide a grit bin.

• A salt bin shall not obstruct the passage of pedestrians
• Salt bins for public use on the public highway will not be provided on a priority road or footway-salting route
• A salt bin will not be provided within 50 metres of another salt bin.

Salt bins may be provided for other Council departments and at locations that do not meet the above criteria on receipt of an official order. Such bins will not be topped up without an official order. Salt bins can also be supplied to private businesses and restocked for a fee depending upon salt availability and resources. There are currently 216 recorded salt bins on the adopted highway.

Restocking of some or all salt bins may be suspended during times of prolonged bad weather should salt supplies run low or the salt be taken for use on private property to the detriment of highway users.

In times of extreme and prolonged bad weather temporary grit bags may be placed at strategic locations to assist the public. This service will be at the discretion of the duty winter manager dependent upon available resources.

Salt bin locations are subject to periodic review and historic bins that do not meet the criteria may be removed.

Special Sites or Features (e.g. near railways or traffic calming)

There are three railway level crossings on the priority 1 road gritting routes:

• Tileshed Lane
• Benton Road
• East Boldon

Guidance from Network Rail requests that salt applied as grit is not laid any closer than 12 metres from the running rails on either side of any level crossing.

The benefits to the rail network are stated as:

• Not applying grit from a distance of 12 meters from the nearest running rail both sides of the track will reduce (although not eliminate) the extent of corrosion and delays associated with track circuit failures
• The grit carried over by the wheels of motor vehicles applies deposits with comparable effects on skid resistance and sufficient to prevent the icing over of level crossing surface systems without the saturation of the crossing surface system and track bed

It is then up to the local network rail operations risk control coordinator to consider the provision of salt bins on a case-by-case basis.

The Decision-Making Process

Decision making is the responsibility of the appropriate winter service manager for the road network and the Streetscene manager for the footway network.

The winter service manager also has responsibility for direct liaison with the forecast provider and bureau service.

The press office will deal with all press enquiries with the duty manager and Streetscene managers providing updates as required to the press office for road and footpath issues respectively.

Using the forecast data provided via the bureau service the winter service manager will make timely decisions regarding pre salting as appropriate to the road network.

Using the same forecast data and working together with the winter service manager the Streetscene manager will evaluate the current situation and decide if pre-salting of footway areas would be beneficial.

Appropriate training is provided regularly for all winter service managers, particularly with regard to improvements in forecasting techniques and the ice prediction system.

Road Weather Information Bureau Service

The authority utilise a regional framework currently awarded to 'Vaisala' for the provision of a road weather information bureau service.

Information from all the weather stations across Tyne and Wear is available to the partners to better inform duty winter managers of prevailing or approaching weather conditions.

Road Weather Stations

The authority has three weather stations:

• Sunderland Road (Primary station)
• Hedworth Lane / Abingdon Way (shared with Autolink for A19)
• Mill Lane (Camera Only)

The station locations are displayed on the map in Appendix D and displayed on the Council's website.

Timing and Circulation of Information

Winter service managers can access current weather forecasts from any location by logging on to the Vaisala website using their individual passwords.

This information is available on request but is not generally circulated beyond the direct decision makers.

Road Weather Forecast

The authority utilise information from a weather forecast provider. For the season 2023 - 2024 this will be DTN EUROPE UK LIMITED (previously Meteogroup UK Limited but company merged with DTN EUROPE UK LIMITED and renamed July 2022) who have won a regional NEPO framework tender to supply the service.

The forecasts from the service provider are accessed via the Vaisala bureau website or via DTN EUROPE UK LIMITED own software and take the following form:

• About 1pm - Detailed 36 hour forecast with anticipated freezing times. Road surface temperature graph with predicted freezing times as well as short term forecast and a 2 -5 day forecast used to plan resource requirements (with particular relevance for establishing requirements for weekend operations)
• About 6pm a fresh detailed forecast similar to the 1pm forecast
• Hourly updates.

Urgent amendments to the forecast may be received at any time from the forecast provider with the first point of contact being the Council's contact centre, which is in operation 24/7 for 365 days. They will pass the information on to the nightshift senior operative or winter service manager depending upon the time of receipt.

An example of the information received from the provider is detailed in Appendix E.

Reporting Procedure

There is no formal procedure for disseminating the forecasts beyond the winter service duty managers. Should weather conditions be severe, senior officers will be kept up to date as required.

During extreme, severe or snow conditions information will be provided to the press office for circulation to local press and radio outlets with updates being placed on the Council's website and members being updated as appropriate to the circumstances.

Thermal Mapping

On a typical winter night, the differences in temperature across a road network can vary by as much as 10°C / 18°F. Consequently, some sections may be below freezing while others may not.

Thermal Mapping is a process by which the variation of minimum night-time road surface temperature is measured, using a high-resolution infrared thermometer. It is a technique, which has been utilised worldwide, to enhance the information available to both highway authorities and supporting forecast providers. Thermal Mapping is an integral part of an effective Ice Prediction system as it provides a mechanism for extending point specific sensor site information between individual weather stations and across a road network.

Vaisala remapped South Tyneside in 2020. The facility exists within the Vaisala website to time shift the thermal map through the night to identify potential problem areas at hourly intervals. An example of a thermal map display is shown in Appendix F.

Maintenance of Ice Detection Equipment

As part of their current contract Vaisala maintains weather stations and ice detection equipment.

Routine maintenance and upgrade works are carried out during the summer.

Information to be Provided

Vaisala notify the authority of any maintenance required to ensure the three weather stations remain operational.

Command, Control and Operational Organisation

Arrangements with Other Authorities

The following co-operative arrangements have been made with adjacent authorities.

Sunderland City

• Whitburn boundary - Treat to boundary only.
• Follingsby Lane - continue to junction with A194.
• Hylton Lane - continue to Downhill Bus Terminus and return (double).

Sunderland Council

• Hebburn boundary.
• Treat to boundary only.

Arrangements with other public services

The authority has arrangements to salt:

• South Tyneside District Hospital main internal ring road
• Mill Dam Police Station
• South Shields Transport Interchange

Decision Making

Council decision making process

External fri/sat nightshift contractor process

Operational record keeping and reporting

Daily operational decisions made by the winter service manager for road treatments are recorded daily on the Vaisala Manager software (Appendix G) as actions to the drivers and in the online diary.

The Manager system is updated by the nightshift senior operative at the end of his shift with regards to drivers/treatment start finish times/tonnages etc.

Plant and Vehicle Manning Arrangements, including Management of Driver’s Hour’s Regulations

During the winter period driver arrangements are as follows are as follows

• Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday - an on-station night-shift comprising a minimum of four internal Council HGV drivers including at least one supervisor
• Friday and Saturday - an on-station Council night shift supervisor and a minimum of four 'Aimrange' HGV drivers on call
• All day-shift salting requirements 7 days a week will be carried out by 'Aimrange' on behalf of the Council

All drivers, both Council and Aimrange, are qualified to drive the loading shovel.

Drivers Hours

Drivers hours comply with the Domestic driving rules:

• Maximum Daily Driving of 10 hours
• Maximum Daily Duty of 11 hours
• Minimum of 30 minutes break taken rising to 45 minutes if shift extended
• Drivers hours are managed via a combination of manual and digital tachograph records.

Fortnightly rest periods - in any 2 weeks in a row (Monday to Sunday) there must be at least 1 period of 45 hours off.

Materials Management

The salt stocks are monitored on a daily usage basis. The tonnage of salt used on each salting route is known and the daily usage is recorded by the duty manager through the Vaisala software system.

The Council will normally commence the winter season with a salt stock of 7000 tonnes.

Training and Development Arrangements

All winter service managers have been trained in the interpretation of weather forecast information and by Vaisala in scenario training. Regular refresher retraining is undertaken.

All drivers of the Salt Spreading Vehicles receive proper training and instruction in the safe and efficient operation of the vehicles and their equipment.

Schedules of Contract and Voluntary Personnel (CVP)

HGV driving operations are carried out by a mixture of internal Council HGV drivers and external drivers as detailed in 4.6.1

All footway salting operations are carried out by internal Council operatives.

In times of extreme snow events Community payback teams and/or local contractors may be utilised or contracted on an ad hoc basis to provide extra support in delivering the service.

Community groups who indicate a desire to assist in clearing snow from footways may also be supported.

Employee Roles and Responsibilities

Highway officers undertake the role of managing the delivery of the primary road gritting service.

Streetscene managers undertake the role of managing the delivery of the footway gritting and footway snow clearing service.

Contact and Commissioning Arrangements for CVP

The authority has no formal arrangements for utilising voluntary personnel. It is however recognised that members of the public or community groups may clear or grit areas of public highway utilising resources from grit bins on the public highway. Central Government have published the 'Snow Code' as a guide to the issues that arise from the public clearing snow from the public highway (Appendix H).

Employee Duty Schedules, Rotas, and Standby Arrangements

There are five trained winter service managers within the Infrastructure and Transport team. A weekly rota of winter duty managers is operated throughout the winter period. Each winter service manager will be responsible for all road gritting duties carried out during his allotted duty period in accordance with this document.

The Streetscene managers are jointly responsible for all footway gritting operations throughout the winter period in accordance with this document. Weekend services will only be provided in times of extreme and prolonged bad weather.

Winter Service Exercising Arrangements

No pre-season exercises are undertaken.

Standard Operating Procedures

Duty manager checks forecasts, issues, and records instructions regarding proposed treatments of roads.

Streetscene managers check forecasts and issue instructions regarding footway treatments.

Escalation and Emergency Operating Procedures

Should the weather conditions deteriorate suddenly or vary significantly from that forecast and planned for, the nightshift senior operative is authorised to increase spread rates and/or fit/commence ploughing without first contacting the duty winter manager. He should however confirm these actions to the winter service manager by email at the first available opportunity and record his actions on the appropriate software diary.

If a period of prolonged severe snowfall should occur, then one member of the winter service manager’s team will be seconded from normal duties and teamed with a Streetscene manager/operative to provide a combined and coordinated response for the duration of the weather event.

Should weather conditions deteriorate without warning overnight the emergency road gritting routes will be treated.

Should the Council's stockpile of salt fall below a resilience of 12 days then the winter service manager may, in consultation with the Head of Infrastructure and Transport, begin to salt a reduced network of roads and footways. (Any further reduction would be undertaken under guidance from the Dept of Transport Resilience team or the Secretary of State).

Operational Monitoring

The effectiveness of the daily operations will be monitored by the relevant winter service manager and Streetscene manager for their own areas of responsibility.

Health and Safety Procedures

Nightshift crews operate from a mess facility within the Middlefields depot with appropriate facilities for health and welfare.

COSHH assessments for salt are provided to all operatives and are detailed in Appendix K.

Risk assessments for the following operations are detailed in Appendix J.

• Gritting
• Loading of gritting vehicles

Contingency Arrangements

Breakdown of gritting vehicles/Damage to Ploughs - The authority have a contract with ECON for maintenance of the 5 hired gritting vehicles on a 24-hour basis.

The two spare Council owned gritters are only maintained during normal working hours.

Breakdown of primary loading vehicle — The Council Highways team have access to a 3cx excavator with front loading 4 in 1 bucket that can be utilised should the primary loading vehicle be unavailable.

The five Tyne and Wear authorities have a mutual aid agreement should there be a shortage of salt. Salt may also be purchased from the National Strategic reserve if other supply options are exhausted.

Mutual aid arrangements are also in place for gritting vehicles. Alternatively, gritting vehicles would be hired in from appropriate suppliers.

24-hour contact numbers are available for duty managers to contact both the appropriate weather forecast provider and the Vaisala weather bureau should the computer systems fail for any reason.

Should all electronic forms of communication fail the winter service manager will personally attend the depot to direct operations.

Winter Service Compounds and Facilities

The main compound for the winter service is within the Middlefields depot. This contains:

• The winter cabin comprising messing facilities for HGV drivers
• Parking for the five hired and two internal gritting vehicles
• The 3cx (primary loading vehicle) utilised for loading the Gritting wagons
• The backup loading shovel
• The stockpile of salt
• Vehicle maintenance services
• The fuel stores.

Calibration Procedures

Econ recalibrates the spinners on the gritters just prior to each new winter season.

The calibration of the salt spreading equipment shall be in accordance with BS 1622. Calibration test record sheets will be provided to fleet manager prior to the start of the WM season.

Fleet inventory Including Licence Requirements and Capacity

Five hired gritting vehicles - 6 tonne capacity and two Council owned gritters.

20 hand salters for hard-to-reach footway areas.

Fuel Stocks and Locations

Middlefields depot houses its own internal fuel stock.

Location of Plant, Vehicles, Snow Blowers and Other Equipment

All equipment is stored at Middlefields depot.

Contingency arrangements

The Middlefields depot has a second entrance that can be used in times of emergency.

Should the whole depot and gritting fleet be rendered inaccessible the authority would source alternative gritting vehicles from external hire companies if available. Failing that a request for mutual aid would be made of neighbouring Tyne and Wear Authorities for gritting vehicles and or salt.

The issue of daily instructions by the winter service managers can be undertaken from any location with internet access and is not dependent upon access to the Middlefields depot.

Garaging, servicing, and maintenance arrangements

The five hired Econ gritting vehicles are maintained under a maintenance agreement directly by Econ.

The two Council owned spare gritters are provided in house by the authority's fleet management team based in Middlefields depot except for:

• The 3cx that is hired from and maintained by George Vardy Ltd.
• The backup loading shovel that is on site hired from and maintained by George Vardy Ltd.

Contact and Hire Arrangements for Contract Plant

Council fleet manager - all internal Council vehicles.

George Vardy - loading shovels.

Econ - 5 hired gritters.

Location and Capacity of Stocks for Salt and Other Materials

The main salt stockpile is within the Middlefields depot. The stockpile at the start of the winter season will normally contain 7000 tonnes.

Contacts and Purchasing Arrangements for Supplies

Salt is supplied under tender via a NEPO contract with ICL operating from the Boulby mine at Saltburn, Cleveland.

Minimum Pre-Season and In-Season Stock Levels

The salt stockpile is normally restocked in during the summer to take advantage of seasonal variations in price.

The minimum in season stock level is 2140 tonnes, which is equivalent to the minimum 12-day resilience level in accordance with national guidance.

In season Re-Stocking Arrangements

For in season restocking contact ICL to confirm details by telephone and place order through internal ordering systems.

Testing Coarse Rock Salt (10mm particle size) Arrangements

Samples of salt will be tested as required. The salt that is used on highways during winter is a naturally occurring rock salt, and shall be to the requirements of BS 3247 'Salt for Spreading'.

Stock level Monitoring and Forecasting Procedures

Salt usage is recorded throughout the season daily on the relevant software that also displays the quantity of salt remaining for resilience monitoring.

Loading Arrangements

Salt is loaded directly into the gritting vehicles by the primary loading vehicle that is available within the depot.

Treatment Requirements Including Spread Rates.

Treatments as a minimum meet and in some instances exceed national updated guidance in 'NWSRG section 8 - Spread rates for preactionary salting'.

Road Surface Wetness

For allocating treatments, a distinction is made between dry, damp, and wet road surfaces. The following definitions drawn from 'NWSRG - section 8 - guide to spread rates' and should be used when making the treatment decision.

Traffic Levels

For allocating treatments, the guidance defines two levels of trafficking on roads - heavily trafficked roads and medium/light trafficked roads.

As shown in table 3 below, heavily trafficked roads are those defined as Categories 1 and 2 in Well Maintained Highways and medium/light trafficked roads are those defined as Category 3.

Precautionary treatment matrix

A Decision Matrix Guide is utilised rather that a flow chart as it contains more detail for the decision maker.

A decision matrix for precautionary treatments based on road surface conditions and predicted weather conditions is given in Table 4.

Determining Spreading Capability

For precautionary treatments, the spread rates to be used depend upon the spreading capability. Capability in national guidance is defined as either “good” or “fair”. Due to the authority's salt being stored in the open the moisture content of the salt is variable which results in a “fair” capability for spreading.

For a fair level of spreading capability, the spread rates used should be those given in Table 4. These rates are marginally higher than the minimum recommendations given in NWSRG series 8 (This standard is adopted by South Tyneside due to the salt being stored outside which makes moisture content inconsistent).

Spread Rates for Precautionary Treatments (forecast frost conditions)

Spread rates for precautionary treatments before frost are given in Table 4. The table provides recommended spread rates for dry salting for a range of weather and road surface conditions.

Treatments for Snow and Ice

Whenever practicable, it is crucial that de-icer is spread on road surfaces before snowfall and freezing rain occurs. This provides a layer which prevents the snow and ice bonding to the road surface (debonding layer), and this aids subsequent treatments.

Based around three types of snow: dry (powdery), normal and wet National guidance uses two categories of snow intensity: light snow and moderate / heavy snow for the purposes of allocating treatments.

The highest spread rate used by most authorities for dry salting is 40g/m² (although it is recognised that delivering this onto the road surface may require more than one treatment). This spread rate, combined with the effect of trafficking, should be sufficient to melt and disperse snow depths which are equivalent to a maximum of 1mm of water at temperatures down to -2°C but will not be sufficient to melt heavier snow.

Timing of treatments

When snow is forecast and issues of practicality allow, ploughs and snow blowers should be made ready to allow snow clearance to commence without delay as and when required. The recommended aim is to apply a precautionary treatment to the salting network immediately prior to snow fall or freezing rain, as this should significantly reduce the risks of snow settling or ice forming on the road surface.

When feasible, treatments should be carried out after any preceding rainfall has ceased and sufficient time and traffic has removed excess water on the road surface. It is, however, recognised that there may be insufficient time during the intervening period to undertake a full precautionary salting operation. These situations are some of the most difficult of all to deal with and, whenever snowfall or freezing rain is expected, decision makers will need to carefully consider the most appropriate and effective timing for operations. In some circumstances, treatments may be required to be undertaken during rainfall or on very wet road surfaces and repeat treatments may be required to prevent compacted snow or icy conditions occurring as snow continues to fall.

When snow is settling, ploughing should be carried out at an early enough point to prevent its compaction by traffic. During prolonged snowfall events and when issues of practicality allow, the time periods between successive ploughing passes necessary to prevent a build-up of snow should be kept short enough so that compaction is minimised. In some instances, this may require continuous ploughing operations.

Depending on the prevailing conditions, subsequent treatments should be carried out as shown in table 6 below:

Freezing Rain

Freezing rain is a relatively rare, but hazardous phenomenon in the UK, as the nature of freezing rain means that the risk of ice formation is high, even on treated surfaces. When the rain strikes a surface, it freezes to form glaze ice almost immediately on contact.

When freezing rain is forecast, precautionary salting should be applied, however it should be recognised but the risk of ice formation on the roads remains high in these situations.

Snow Ploughing

The purpose of ploughing is to move as much snow as possible away from the road surface. More than a few millimetres of snow cannot be treated with salt.

Snowploughs should be fitted to vehicles 24 hours before snow is forecast.

Treatments Before Snowfall and Freezing Rain

It can be very difficult to remove a layer of compacted snow or ice that is bonded to a road surface and a debonding layer is important so that:

• snow is more readily removed by ploughing
• compacted snow and ice are more easily dispersed by traffic
• to provide salt to melt small quantities of light snow with the aid of trafficking.

Treatment During Snowfall and Freezing Rain

Treatments are undertaken during snowfall to:

• limit the accumulation of snow on the road surface, thereby reducing the amount of salt required for subsequent treatments
• help the dispersal/clearing of the snow by traffic
• prevent snow from being compacted.

De-icer should not be spread alone without abrasives to anything other than a thin layer of ice or compacted snow when snowfall has ceased, or future snowfall will be less than 10mm. Applying salt alone to compacted snow and ice can produce dangerously slippery conditions if a weak brine film is formed on top of the ice/snow layer.

Treatments of Thin Ice Layers

Treatments using salt or salt and abrasive mixes should be made in accordance with Table 9 below:

Treatment of Compacted Layers of Snow and Ice

Treatments should be made in accordance with Matrix 9.11.3

For compacted snow, when no further snow is expected, salt and abrasive mixtures or abrasives are applied to assist the action of traffic in breaking the layer. When further snow is expected, salt and abrasive mixtures treatments may be applied to provide grip as well as a debonding layer between the existing layer and any future snow to assist future ploughing operations.

Salt should not be applied on its own as it may eventually form a weak brine solution which may re-freeze to form an ice or ice/brine layer.

Technical Systems Information

It is important that good communications are maintained during the winter period to ensure that the response to poor conditions is effective and immediate.

At all times the gritting crews should be available by mobile phone. Contact between vehicle operators and the duty manager is to be maintained at all times during winter maintenance operations, so that salting progress can be monitored and to provide a rapid and efficient response in emergency situations.

During normal working hours the duty winter service manager will be available via the Council's Contact Centre or by mobile phone if they are away from the office.

The duty winter service manager has responsibility for managing the service outside normal working hours and is available via mobile phone.

During severe periods of weather (snow and widespread ice) problem areas may be notified by phone calls received from the Police and members of the public via the Contact Centre. They will act as a liaison to the duty manager and log these calls along with any other reports.

Reporting Arrangements and Protocols

A decision is made and recorded every day even if that decision is to take no gritting action.

Decisions by the winter service managers are recorded on the Vaisala Manager system.

Decisions by the Streetscene managers are stored as per their procedures.

Inventory and Allocation, Including Back Up

Should communications or I.T. systems fail the duty winter manager will attend the Middlefields depot to take control of operations in person.

The manager has 24-hour contact helpline numbers for both the weather forecast provider and bureau service if required.

Contingency Arrangements for Winter Service Delivery such as Salt Supply, Drivers, Fuel Vehicles, etc.

Salt: Extra supplies are available through the contracted supplier or via mutual aid. As a last resort salt can be purchased from the National Strategic reserve.

Drivers: The authority utilise drivers in house who have experience of driving gritting vehicles to be able to replace any drivers who suddenly become unavailable. Drivers may be available under mutual aid from neighbouring authorities or from external agencies if required.

For dayshift salting the Council's external gritting support contractor, Aimrainge, has reserve trained drivers that it can call on if required.

Fuel: The authority maintains a supply of fuel cards which can be used at local garages.

Vehicles: Vehicles can be secured on hire through the Council's fleet management team. Alternatively, vehicles can be provided by neighbouring authorities under mutual aid.

Arrangements for Implementing Minimum Winter Networks

The decision to implement minimum winter salting networks cover will be taken by the Head of Infrastructure and Transport in consultation with the Service Lead, highways Asset Management Highways, Infrastructure Manager and Duty winter service manager.

This decision will be circulated to Members and the press office for the widest circulation and posted on the Council's website.

Details will include the reduced network to be salted and the reason for the decision along with any relevant guidance from the Dept for Transport.

Mutual Aid e.g. Resources Available from Adjacent Authorities

Mutual aid from neighbouring authorities will be dependent upon the circumstances that prevail at the time the aid is requested.

Typically, requests may be made for salt, gritting vehicles, or drivers.

Liaison with Category 1 and Category 2 Responders (Reference Civil Contingencies Act 2004)

Liaison with Category 1 and 2 responders is undertaken via the Council's Emergency Planning and Response Coordinator.

Local Press and Broadcast Contact Information

All contact with local press and broadcasters will be via the Council's press office.

Public Information Leaflets

The Highways Agency produces a public information leaflet on driving safely in winter. This can be viewed on https://nationalhighways.co.uk/

Other Key Local and National Contact Information

ICL (Salt Supplier): 01287 640140

For Issues on the A19

Autolink: Number held on Vaisala software for winter managers.

For Issues on the A184 Trunk Road Contact

North East Area 14: Number held on Vaisala software for winter managers

For Council Risk and Resilience Matters

Contact Corporate Manager - Risk and Resilience.

Thermal Mapping

Information on thermal mapping is shown on the Vaisala website at www.vaisala.com

Responsibilities and Guidance for Providing Information

It is the responsibility of the Head of Infrastructure and Transport to provide guidance and information on winter maintenance matters.

The Decision-Making Process

All press releases and contact with external media will be via the press office. All press statements to be approved by the Head of Infrastructure and Transport prior to release.

Road Weather Stations

Information on the location of the three road weather stations is on the Council's website and shown in Appendix D.

Information to be Provided

Information from the weather stations or weather warnings may be provided on the Council's website during periods of extreme weather.

Road Weather Information Bureau Service

Vaisala are the authority's contracted road weather information bureau service. Extensive detailed information can be found on their website www.vaisala.com

Timing and Circulation of Information

Press releases approved by the Head of Infrastructure and Transport, released through the press office as appropriate.

Road Weather Forecast

DTN Europe UK Limited (formerly Meteogroup) is the authority's contracted road weather forecast provider.

The weather forecasts are divided into three climatic zones covering the Tyne and Wear region. These zones are coastal, central and western and are shown in Appendix I.

Information to be Provided

Information provided to the press will be specific to the nature of the prevailing weather.

Members will be updated by email of any significant snow events and the Council's ongoing response.

Notification Arrangements for Failure to Maintain the Published Network

Any failure to treat the published network will be circulated to local media via the press office.

Local emergency services and bus operators will also be notified.

Members will also be notified by email.

Reporting Procedure

Any failures to salt the published network will be reported to Cabinet as part of an annual revision of this plan.

Maintenance of Ice Detection Equipment

Ice detection equipment is maintained by Vaisala.

Arrangements for Performance Monitoring, Audit and Updating

This service plan will be updated as required after each winter season and approved.

Document Control Procedures

The Head of Infrastructure and Transport must approve any deviation from the laid down procedures within this plan.

Distribution of Documents

All winter service managers will receive a copy of the winter service plan.

Information Recording and Analysis

All winter duty managers' decisions will be recorded on the appropriate standard documentation and/or software.

Minutes will be kept of all meetings regarding the delivery of the service throughout the season and stored in the appropriate folder on the authority's servers.

Arrangements for Performance Monitoring, Audit and Updating

Performance will be monitored throughout the season.

Procedure for Deviation from the Winter Service Plan

The Head of Infrastructure and Transport must approve any deviation from the laid down procedures within this plan.

Service Review following Significant Events and at End of Season

An end of season review meeting will be held within one month of the close of the service each year.

The results of the annual review meeting will inform the revisions and updates to the service plan for the next season.