Cheshire West and Chester Council offers road salt supply reassurance

Dec 24 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.

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 are working with the police and have plans in place to manage this large movement of wagons, while at the same time ensure priority continues forCheshire West and Chester Council gritters.”

Chester is in for more freezing nights over the Christmas period, with night-time temperatures predicted to fall to -3°C tonight (Wednesday) and on Christmas Eve

There will also be a fair chance of Chester enjoying a White Christmas, with showers forecast during Christmas morning.

The weather is predicted to be warmer over the weekend, with temperatures hitting a high of 6°C on Boxing Day, before further snowfall and freezing temperatures are scheduled to return by Monday.