With the winter well and truly here, Hull City Council is continuously monitoring forecasts and is ready to put its winter weather plan into action.
So far, the season has been a mild one, with warmer temperatures, storms and occasional bouts of rain but the council’s streetsence services have been gearing up for the prospect of icy conditions and snow since the summer – testing equipment and gritters and familiarising winter operatives with their routes.
During the previous winter (2023-24), the team treated the network 42 times, covering a total of 11,172 miles, and used a total of 1,580 tonnes of grit.
The council’s response to winter weather is directed from its depot at Stockholm Road, where the authority’s fleet of six gritters are based as well as its salt stocks.
“Our aim is to make Hull’s roads as safe as possible and keep disruption caused by bad weather to a minimum,” said Councillor Mark Ieronimo, cabinet portfolio holder for transportation, roads and highways.
“From late autumn to late spring, we are on standby 24-hours-a-day to respond to bad weather conditions.
“Our activity is informed by detailed weather forecasts from two weather monitoring stations in Hull. This helps us forecast road surface temperatures and decide which roads need gritting and when.”
As the local highway authority for adopted roads, the council’s plan focuses on gritting main roads, footways and cycleways.
Gritting involves the spreading of rock salt. The salt lowers the temperature at which water freezes. This prevents ice from forming or snow from setting. It needs traffic to be effective, as it relies on the action of vehicle tyres for the salt to spread over the road.
Rock salt is effective at temperatures down to minus 8 to 10 degrees Celsius. Below that, salted roads will still freeze.
Road gritting is concentrated on the key routes which carry the majority of traffic around Hull, including bus routes, such as Sutton Road, Cottingham Road, Clough Road, Beverley Road, Anlaby Road, Spring Bank, Holderness Road, Preston Road, Hessle Road and the City Centre.
The A63 and A1033 Trunk Roads are the responsibility of Highways England and are administered by their agents.
East Riding of Yorkshire Council is the only other local highway authority with shared boundaries.
The council liaises with these two adjacent highway authorities to make sure the travelling public can rely on a consistent level of treatment.
Follow the link to find out more about gritting routes in your area.
When snow and ice is predicted, in addition to treating the highway network, the council’s street cleansing teams also grit footways, pedestrian areas and streets with high footfall, as a precaution.
“When adverse weather hits, we will aim to clear snow from main walking routes, such as the city centre, as our main priority. If conditions continue, we look at clearing snow from bus stops. Then we concentrate on areas where vulnerable people live,” added Councillor Ieronimo.
To support local communities, there are also 400 grit bins positioned in locations around the city for the use of residents to treat footpaths in their area.
Report an empty grit bin or request a refill or for a replacement or new bin
