Cheshire West and Chester Council says there is enough salt to cope with icy roads this winter

Dec 17 2009 by Claire Devine, Chester Chronicle

ASSURANCES have been made that Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC) has enough road salt stocks for the winter.

The reassurance comes after the AA issued a warning about salt levels, claiming half the UK’s local authorities only have enough road salt for six days of continuous freezing.

The organisation said it understood councils had 250,000 tonnes less road salt in stock than they would have had a decade ago.

But the Local Government Association dismissed the claims as scaremongering.

On Tuesday a CWAC spokesman said: “We have two locations where the gritter fleet is based and salt is stored to serve the community.

“One is just outside Chester where we have 2,000 tonnes of salt stockpiled at present – as much as the barn can take and replace this as it is used.

“We have contingency supplies arriving in the next few days.

“The second base is the Winsford Salt Mine, where we have access to the salt stocks both above and below ground.

“Cheshire West and Chester Council gritters load directly from the mine and the vast quantity of salt that is available there.

“During the prolonged heavy winter weather last year the Highways Agency took over the national distribution of salt.

“In doing so they recognised the importance of our roads and ensured our stock levels remained high to ensure salt from the mine could continue to be distributed across the country.

“In times of high demand wagons descend on the Winsford mine from all over the country.

“We have plans in place to manage this large movement of wagons, whilst at the same time ensure priority continues to be given to Cheshire West and Chester Council gritters.”