When weather conditions indicate that there could be snow or ice on our roads, we carry out precautionary gritting. We prioritise roads with the greatest volumes of traffic and other relevant factors, aiming to reduce delays and the potential for accidents on our busiest routes.
Priority one routes
Council roads of primary importance and which form a strategic network, these being strategic, main distributor and secondary distributor roads and comprise main urban traffic routes, the main routes to schools, bus routes and routes to main Emergency Service establishments, and a route to each primary and secondary school from the nearest P1 route
Priority two routes
These are identified roads of lesser importance as traffic routes and important rural routes. These routes are roads and include main urban spine roads into housing and industrial areas where there are difficult bends or steep inclines and are particularly prone to icing.
Priority three routes
These are the most significant of the remainder of the road network which are Local Access Roads in terms of hierarchy.
Priority four routes
These are the remainder of the public road network, priority being given to locations of difficult junctions, gradients, bends, or short, sharp incline, together with reasonable lengths of carriageway adjacent to these specific problems.
Prioritisation of Footway Treatment
Priority F1
These are footways with the highest pedestrian usage. In hierarchy terms, these will be prestige and primary walking routes.
These include main town and village shopping areas, pedestrian precincts, main routes to urban schools, main access routes to hospitals, clinics, identified public buildings, major sheltered housing complexes and other high risk areas.
Steps and ramps to underpasses and footbridges together with any associated footpaths.
Adopted footways to and within sheltered housing or residential home complexes for the elderly.
Priority F2
These are footways which are secondary walking routes.
These routes include main pedestrian routes in major housing developments and the main access routes to sheltered housing complexes and other establishments. Where day centres have been identified as having substantial pedestrian usage, these will be treated under this category.
Cycleways
Cycleways will be treated where they form part of the carriageway or footway and will be treated in accordance with the priority for that section of carriageway or footway
For more information, please see our Winter Service Strategy, and Winter Service Plan