We were gritting all week, says Councillor

Rochdale Council's cabinet member for finance Greg Couzens has revealed details of the Council's gritting process last week and says that the current supply of grit is 'no different to normal'.

Rochdale Online revealed at the weekend how the Council received an emergency supply of grit, with stocks dwindling across the country, but Councillor Couzens says that supplies have been 'fairly constant'.

Arrangements were made with the Highways Agency over the weekend to deliver a 25 tonne load of grit on Saturday (7 February) and two 25 tonne loads on Sunday.

"We are receiving regular deliveries that have met our requirements," said the Spotland and Falinge Councillor. "Unlike some other councils, we do not have a permanent storage facility for grit - instead we receive regular deliveries throughout the winter to meet demand, so the current position is no different to normal.

"We're expecting the wintry weather to continue for the next couple of weeks so our gritting teams remain on standby and we're keeping a close eye on the detailed forecasts.

"Our vehicles are currently all loaded in preparation for a further full treatment and we are awaiting further deliveries from our suppliers."

The Council says it has used more than 2,000 tonnes of grit since the start of the month in a bid to get to grips with the recent cold snap, utilising around 960 man hours for the operations.

According to the Council the gritting process began at 2pm on Sunday 1 February and from then until Tuesday 3 February gritting was carried out continuously either by mechanical or manual means on all main routes and high profile areas.

On Wednesday 4 February, the Council says it carried out extensive gritting of the majority of residential areas and also replenished all grit bins throughout the Borough.

On Thursday 5 February, there was a full grit of the borough and work continued on replenishing all the borough's grit bins plus, with a further grit of all high level routes.

Treatments of the borough's roads continued at the weekend in response to weather predicted from the Met Office.

The current weather forecast for the next 15 days predicts cold, frosty conditions with wintry showers on high ground.