Winter Maintenance Plan 2020 – 2021

I would like to receive the Winter maintenance plan 2020-21, for your district and responsibility to include the objectives set out below :

The objective is to provide a winter maintenance service which, as far as is reasonably practicable, will permit the safe movement of traffic along the priority network, whilst minimising delays and accidents attributable to the adverse weather conditions. Good practice is also important to minimise both the environmental impact of salt used and budget implications’.

* Highway authorities are under a statutory duty – by virtue of the Highways Act 1980, to maintain the highways.
* Section 41: “The authority who are for the time being the highway authority for a highway maintained at the public expense are under a duty, … to maintain the highway.”
* Section 41 (1A): ‘In particular, a highway authority are under a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice.’
* Section 130: “It is the duty of the highway authority to assert and protect the rights of the public to the use and enjoyment of any highway for which they are the highway authority …”
* Section 150: “If an obstruction arises in a highway from accumulations of snow … the highway authority shall remove the obstruction …” Recent legal judgement has concluded that there is no duty upon authorities to remove ice from highways under the general responsibility to ‘maintain the highway’
in Section 41. It is important to note that this judgement does not remove liability in all circumstances

Call out criteria
* Priority 1 routes only are to be treated, when heavy snow conditions exist necessitating snow ploughing.
* Priority 1 and 2 routes are to be treated, when forecasts indicate that formation of ice or snow is likely.

Response and treatment times
* Priority 1 routes, rate of spread 20-40 gm/sqm Response time – 1 hour, treatment time – 1½ hours, total – 2½ hours
* Priority 1 and 2 routes, rate of spread 10-20 gm/sqm Response time – 1 hour, treatment time – 2½ hours, total – 3 ½hours
* Priority 1 and 2 routes, rate of spread 30-40 gm/sqm. Response time – 1 hour, treatment time – 5 hours, total – 6 hours.

Stocking levels
* Amounts currently stock and when levels are critical.

Fleet
* Vehicles types in service and identity.

We do not hold this information. The Winter Maintenance Plan for 2019 – 2020 is online and available via the link provided. The Plan for 2020 – 2021 is expected to be published in October 2020 and does not yet exist, however, the highways service are not anticipating major changes.