Who is telling the truth on grit?!

4.19.07pm GMT Tue 5th Jan 2010

Liberal Democrat councillors have been left asking who is telling the truth on the grit situation following misleading statements. One statement from the county council's portfolio holder for roads which has been contrasted by a briefing sent to all County Councillors from the council officers doing their jobs, without the political spin.

Statement from the elected councillor responsible for roads says: 'have enough salt to keep the main roads gritted this week.'

However this has been contrasted by the County Councillor briefing from Council Officer: 'with enough salt to last for approximately 6 more runs.' On one night of heavy snow fall, as expected tonight, the council will do 3 runs.

Chris White, Liberal Democrat Leader of the Opposition on the County Council said: 'They do not know how to cope with holding their hands up and saying we are running short of salt in public. It is a case of spin, spin and more spin to hide the fact they were caught out again.'

ENDS

Note to Editors

Email briefing to ALL county councillors from YESTERDAY (so less grit left already) pasted below, (edited for our Website use to remove officers names.

----- Original Message -----

From: XXXX XXXX

Sent: 04/01/2010 17:11 GMT

To: All County Councillors

Subject: Herts Highways - Winter Service Update - 04/01/09

Dear Member,

Winter Service Update - 04/01/09

The severe weather has kept Hertfordshire Highways' winter maintenance team busy over the holiday period. Please find below an update on the county council's winter service operations.

Salt stocks

Consistently low road surface temperatures have meant that our gritters have made 8 outings since Christmas day.

The cold spell has affected the whole of the UK, leading to a problem with salt supplies nationally. Currently we are in a comparatively reasonable position, with enough salt to last for approximately 6 more runs.

However, the current weather conditions are predicted to continue for the foreseeable future. We are expecting further snow - 1-2cm between 7 and 12 tomorrow morning, and heavier showers later in the week.

We have further salt on order, but given the weather forecasts, the national salt supply problems, and the possibility that the distribution of supplies may soon be nationally coordinated, with worst-hit areas taking priority, our supplier is unable to commit to further salt supplies to us at the moment.

In order to conserve our supplies therefore, we have taken the decision, for the time being, to stop providing salt to the districts and to roadside salt bins.

In the meantime, we are pursuing a number of other potential sources of salt, and we are also obtaining supplies of sharp sand to mix in with the salt, to make it go further.

Street lighting fault reporting

Hertfordshire Highways has also been notified by EDF Energy that their priority for repairing electrical faults during the cold spell has to be focused on restoring domestic supplies and they will not be able to repair faulty street lights. However, this only affects a small percentage of Hertfordshire's large street lighting stock. Hertfordshire Highways is working closely with EDF to make sure that any faults will be repaired as soon as possible when the weather improves.

Once the current icy temperatures improve, Hertfordshire Highways will begin to examine the county's roads to see the extent of damage caused by the cold weather.

I hope this update is helpful. If you need any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me on xxx.xxxx@hertshighways.org.uk