Gwent councils 'well stocked' with grit for cold snap (From South Wales Argus)

Gwent councils 'well stocked' with grit for cold snap

5:00pm Thursday 17th January 2013 in News

GWENT’S councils have declared they’re ready for whatever winter throws at them, as the area gears up for predicted snowfall tomorrow.

In Monmouthshire, the council said they could grit “from Usk to Bethlehem”.

A council spokesman said: “Our stock is comfortably over 9,000 tons at our depots in Crick, Raglan and Llanfoist.

“They normally grit 340 miles each day so if they work all week they travel 2,380 miles – the equivalent of a trip from Usk to Bethlehem.

In Blaenau Gwent, where snow has already fallen this week, the council said around 2,000 tonnes of road salt is being stored at the council’s barn, with around 2,500 tonnes in reserves housed in a regional barn, which is also used by neighbouring local authorities to store their supplies.

A council spokeswoman said: “The winter maintenance programme sees a total of 48% of roads in the county borough pre-salted and smaller ploughs help to clear some residential streets where salt stocks allow.

“There are approximately 500 salt bins located around the borough which will be filled up, and people are reminded to use this salt sensibly, and only on the public highways and not private property.

“The council is also working with the Welsh Ambulance Service to help vulnerable patients make urgent medical appointments, and 4x4 vehicles will also be used to keep critical services going, such as home care and meals on wheels.”

Torfaen’s fleet of seven gritters will also be taking to the streets.

The council there has around 6,000 tonnes of salt in its barns, including a reserve stock of 2,000 tonnes in a shared regional barn in Ebbw Vale.

But the council has warned that vandalism of some of their 650 grit bins has been a problem and has urged people to be vigilant.

Caerphilly council will launch its three new gritters, which they bought for £100,000 each ahead of the winter as part of their 13- strong team.

The council said they still had almost 7,500 tonnes of grit left, which was above the Welsh Government guidelines.

They said that in an average winter (October-April) they would use around 6,500 tonnes.

In Newport a council spokeswoman said: “Newport City Council has 2,000 tonnes of grit at present with 300 tonnes on order. This will be enough to carry out 57 normal presalting treatments of the network, around 300km.”