Argyll and Bute Council has decided to cut down on its use of hired gritters during its next winter maintenance period.
The move was agreed by the local authority’s Environment, Development and Infrastructure Committee at a meeting last Thursday, during which the council’s winter service policy was reviewed.
Part of the approved recommendations included reducing the council’s gritter fleet hire period to generate ‘immediate savings’ for winter 2026/27. It would involve limiting the hire of gritters for two weeks at the beginning and end of the local authority’s current hire period.
A council spokesperson said: ‘Our experience over previous winters is that this is a low-risk approach, and we will respond to weather events during these periods using vehicles in the council’s own gritter fleet.’
The meeting report also called for a more comprehensive review of the Winter Maintenance Service Policy in the next year, with the aim of identifying ‘longer-term options for route prioritisation, network coverage and service resilience’.
The spokesperson added: ‘We already treat just over 54% of our 2300 km of road network, which is 10% more than the average carried out by rural authorities.’
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Photo: © Augustin-Foto) Jonas Augustin.
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