Westmorland and Furness Council’s gritting fleet is ‘on standby’ as part of its winter-readiness campaign.
The ‘We are winter ready, are you?’ campaign is part of the council’s efforts to boost winter travel and weather preparations, ensuring that public health information and guidance is in place ahead of the colder months.
In a statement today, the local authority said that preparations to ‘keep residents safe, moving and supported’ in winter started earlier this spring, and have involved reviews of local forecasting data being carried out three times a day by the council’s highways team.
It has also confirmed that the gritting fleet has undergone a full service and test run, with vehicles ‘on standby’ to respond to the weather. This is being supported by the stockpiling of 12,000 tonnes of grit in depots and more than 2,000 grit bins being replenished.
Further improvements include the installation of two new remotely-operated ‘adverse weather’ signs in locations that have ‘presented significant operational challenges during periods of severe weather’, as well as upgrades to the weather station at Dunmail Raise.
Cllr Peter Thornton, Westmorland and Furness Council’s Cabinet Member for Highways and ICT said: ‘This weekend has reminded us that the winter months can bring many challenges for us all.
‘Being prepared and winter ready makes all the difference when the worst happens and I urge everyone to think about taking some simple steps to prepare. Have you thought about what you would do if your power was to go off for two or three days as has happened in some of our communities? Now is the time to think about these things and the Winter Ready page on our website is a great place to start.’
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Photo: © Westmorland and Furness Council.
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