Latest news on gritting in Solihull
From Councillor Ted Richards, Cabinet Member for Transport and Highways on 15 February 2010
In light of the continuing national salt shortage, Solihull Council is informing residents of some changes to the borough's gritting policy for this winter.
The Council's decision also follows the Government's request to reduce grit usage by 25% and because of this it will now fill grit bins with sand grit only.
Sand grit is effectively grit without salt, which means it will still help to improve a vehicle’s grip on the road but may not necessarily melt the snow and ice like salt does.
If there are further spells of exceptionally bad weather, it is possible the Council may need to reduce coverage of the normal gritted network in the borough to only A & B roads, e.g. roads like the A45 and B4102. This is to conserve existing salt stock as further severe weather would cause delays in delivering new supplies.
Councillor Ted Richards, Cabinet Member for Transport and Highways, said: “We do sympathise with people who are travelling around the Borough in any future exceptionally bad weather, however we also hope they will understand our reasons for taking this course of action.”
Any further updates about gritting in the borough will be detailed on the Council’s website, via Solihull Connect and through the Council’s official twitter feed .
For media enquiries only, contact Dave Musson on 0121 704 6136
Email: dmusson@solihull.gov.uk