To provide a review of winter maintenance of highways following the 2024/25 winter period, endorsing or otherwise the current arrangements and providing recommendations to the Cabinet Member for Roads and Regulatory Services ahead of the 2025/26 winter season.

 

The committee considered a report on Highways Winter Maintenance.

 

The slides presented by the Head of Highways and Traffic are outlined below (in italics), with the principal points noted below.

 

A The Head of Highways and Traffic introduced the presentation and welcomed the opportunity to update the committee on Highways Winter Maintenance.

 

B The Head of Highways and Traffic presented:

 

Background

 

b.1 Clarifications were provided around what resources are available and what fleet and equipment is available.

 

Current Fleet

 

Routes, Salt and Decision Making

 

b.2 The county is split into three domains – North, South-East and South-West – due to the diverse geography for decision-making purposes.

 

b.3 There are cross-boundary agreements with surrounding counties including Powys, Worcestershire, Shropshire and Monmouthshire. Treatment is carried on to a suitable point and equally they will stray over into Herefordshire to do likewise.

 

b.4 There are two depots – Thorn and Kingsland – where salt storage facilities exist.

 

b.5 A contract exists with Metdesk for a four-year period who draw on data from county weather stations.

 

b.6 Decisions are also recorded through Vaisala to ensure that treatment is suitably reflected.

 

Routes

 

C The Engineering Manager presented:

 

Operations Model

 

c.1 The various stages of operation were outlined. A forecast is received from Metdesk which helps to inform what the teams do.

 

c.2 There are three decision-makers who are on a rota. It is decided what the treatment should be, the time of it, and the spread of salt.

 

c.3 Once a decision has been made, the supervisors get the information out to the drivers, loaders, depots, and mobilises all of the teams to start treatment.

 

c.4 At the end, data is recorded through Vaisala to reflect the appropriate decision-making throughout.

 

Forecasting – Metdesk

 

c.5 The forecasting carried out by Metdesk helps to inform the decisions made whether to treat the routes.

 

c.6 Monitoring is done 24/7 and the team monitors over night to ensure that there is no significant change in weather to help better inform treatment.

 

24 Hour Summary

 

Salt Spread Rates

 

2-5 Day Summary

 

c.7 The 2–5-day summary helps to provide a foresight on what is expected weather wise and when it will hit. It helps to provide the teams a bit more time to plan and prepare prior to potential treatment.

 

c.8 The 2-5 day summary also helps to prepare ahead to ensure that adequate resources are available for treatment.

 

Site Graphs

 

Camera Wall

 

c.9 It was clarified that there are seven weather stations, across the county, with cameras to enable better decision-making when it comes to treatment. At each of the stations, there are a number of sensors which get surface temperature, deep temperature, and air temperatures.

 

c.10 It was added that access is not limited only to Herefordshire, access is available to the A49 and other surrounding roads with National Highways. This is helpful to forecast what weather could be like in Herefordshire.

 

Vaisala Manager

 

c.11 It was noted that the council has a contract with Vaisala who manage the weather stations and ensure that they are correctly reading and recording and sending data correctly to Metdesk.

 

D The Head of Highways and Traffic presented:

 

Masternaut – Tracking Data

 

d.1 It was noted that each of the vehicles is fitted with Masternaut which track the vehicles in real time across the network and records what is going on at the time. This helps to ensure an audit record for claims and to understand better what is going on at the time.

 

d.2 The vehicles are limited to 30 mph while gritting to ensure that treatment is done correctly across the network.

 

Dashcams – Email Alarm Facility

 

d.3 Each of the gritters have dashcams fitted to enable better understanding of what the state of the network is.

 

d.4 The gritters also have an alarm facility to allow the driver to cut a segment of video out which emails that footage back to the supervisors.

 

The principal points of the subsequent discussion are summarised below:

 

1. The Chair thanked the officers for their presentation and thanked the team at Thorn Depot for making himself and fellow members welcome at their site visit.

 

2. The Delivery Director – Infrastructure praised the gritting rate of the network, adding that it is impressive in comparison to many other local authorities across the country.

 

3. The Chair noted that there had been a long period of time since there has been a review of the primary and secondary routes and there is a desire for a review to be undertaken.

 

4. In response to a question about how important officers think it is for a review of primary and secondary routes to be undertaken, the Head of Highways and Traffic commented it would be welcome, highlighting that it has been a long time since the network has been reviewed. It was noted that it would be a significant piece of work and would receive a range of different views as to what should and should not be gritted. It was added that the highways network does not fundamentally change significantly year-to-year, however, over a longer period of time there will be changes in terms of new developments and usage of the network.

 

5. In response to a question about engagement with town and parish councils around which routes need to be gritted, the Engineering Manager noted that the primary and secondary routes are mostly set. When it goes into footway treatments, then they are engaged with and a lengthsman is able to do some gritting themselves. The council does not generally consult on day-to-day activity as the route treatments with the gritters are mostly set. Calls for grit bins, additional salting, additional areas are considered as part of the programme.

 

6. In response to a question about a mechanism for getting feedback from town and parish councils, the Head of Highways and Traffic noted that there it isn’t given the length of time since it was last reviewed. With a review of the routes, consultation would take place.

 

7. In response to a question about the policy on grit bins, the Engineering Manager confirmed that the council has a list of grit bins that are present around the county. With the Community Commissioning Model, parishes are allowed to purchase grit bins and put them onto the network and it is their responsibility to maintain them. The bins that the council own are managed and maintained by the council.

 

8. The Head of Highways and Traffic stated that approximately 5,000 grit bins are distributed throughout the council's network, strategically placed in areas deemed essential. When asked about the division of responsibility between the council and the parish council for filling these 5,000 grit bins, the Head of Highways and Traffic responded that he could obtain those specific details.

 

9. In response to a question about data from the last review and whether it could be compared to today’s data, the Engineering Manager confirmed that the service has evolved since the last review and historical data is not available. However, the data that is available today is much more extensive and can be used.

 

10. The Cabinet Member Roads and Regulatory Services added that current efforts are built upon foundations laid in previous years, with incremental improvements made annually. He added that he would welcome a review of the routes.

 

11. In response to a question about whether the council has a plan to replace grit bins once they have become damaged, the Engineering Manager noted that the council is reliant on locals to inspect and identify bins that need repair/replacement.

 

12. In response to a question about the resilience and resourcing of the two-team system, the Head of Highways and Traffic underlined that there are the 15 primary routes which the two teams will look after and are on call during the day and during the night on alternate weeks through the season. Potential concerns that exist around the requirements on the teams can be fed back. As part of the next contract, providers will be asked to come up with their own plans on effective resourcing.

 

13. When asked if specific rat runs receive priority, the Head of Highways and Traffic pointed to paragraph 14 of the report, which references commuter routes. It was indicated that a review could identify potential adjustments to the network's usage, possibly designating these as gritting routes. However, implementing such changes would necessitate a substantial increase in resources.

 

14. The Chair noted that every time a route is gritted, the cost of one grit would be approximately £8,000. The detailed information from the weather service has meant that already over the last few months, on two occasions, the new information has meant that gritting was not required as the road surface temperature was being properly measured and it could be accurately predicted what was required meaning a significant saving to the council. It was also noted that conversely the new information from the weather service can also advise the teams to go out when they previously did not go out. On those occasions, it could help to save lives.

 

15. The Head of Highways and Traffic responded that potential communications on the benefits of the weather service would be beneficial as it would help ensure people to understand the messages and exactly how things work. It was noted that there is sometimes a misconception around the service that Metdesk provide in terms of monitoring and on-call support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It was restated that Metdesk provide highly detailed information several times a day drawing from the weather station information that is available.

 

16. The Chair added that it would be useful to have some figures on exactly how many times that the teams have not gone out when they previously have done for the current season, as part of any comms.

 

17. The Cabinet Member for Roads and Regulatory Services emphasized that utilizing the weather service is both a cost-efficient and secure method for providing Winter maintenance services. He endorsed the suggestion to distribute additional information through communications to enhance public understanding of the weather service's advantages.

 

18. When asked if Metdesk's role extends beyond just alerting about freezing temperatures, the Engineering Manager explained that during Winter, Metdesk's service also informs the council about flooding, rain, winds, and other weather conditions. Additionally, numerous weather warnings are received from the Met Office, emergency services, and the resilience team, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of the situation.

 

19. The Chair commented that currently, there are very detailed 24-hour forecasts from Metdesk and after talking to the team at Thorn Depot, they felt that it would be beneficial to increase that to 36 hours. A 36-hour forecast would help give more opportunity to get shift patterns right and prepare more in advance in terms of manpower.

 

20. The Engineering Manager explained that adopting a 36-hour forecasting model would enhance planning capabilities, allowing the team to better schedule rest periods and allocate time for treating footpaths. Efforts are currently underway, including securing necessary approvals, to implement this shift to 36-hour forecasting.

 

The Chairperson thanked the officers for attending the meeting.

 

There was a short adjournment to enable committee members to consider potential recommendations. The meeting recommenced and the following resolutions were agreed by the committee.

 

Resolved:

 

That Herefordshire Council

 

1. Review and update the primary and secondary routes on the gritting network.

 

2. Undertake an audit of the number and location of local authority-owned grit bins.

 

3. Carry out comprehensive publicity to demonstrate the value and effectiveness of the commissioned professional weather services resulting from accurate forecasting.