Use of gritters during december in the years 2006-2009

FoI/2009/518

Dear Mr Mills,

Thank you for your enquiry. The Council has an overarching Highways
contract with Volker Highways which includes the provision of rock salt
for road gritting, and the provision of gritting services, so this is
not separately budgeted by the Council. I believe the Highways contract
was signed in 2007, so I will check to see what information is held
prior to this.

I think it unlikely that recorded information will be held on the miles
of highways gritted during these four years but I will enquire.

The Council's Winter Service and Adverse Weather Plan can be found here:
http://www.westberks.gov.uk/CHttpHandler...

Yours sincerely

Sue Broughton

Information Management Officer

Policy & Communication

* West Berkshire Council, Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury RG14
5LD

Email: [West Berkshire Council request email]

01635 519747 (external) ' 2747 (internal) 6: 01635 519613

You should be aware that all emails received and sent by this Council
are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and therefore may be
disclosed to a third party.

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FoI/2009/518

Dear Mr Mills,

I have now discussed your enquiry with the Highways Service. We cannot
answer your enquiry exactly as asked, but I have supplied an explanatory
and narrative response below.

You have asked:

1) The annual budgets for salt spreading in the years 2006 to 2009.
This work forms part of the annual Highways Contract and is
included within it, so salt is purchased by the contractor. There is no
separate budget although on some occasions extra salt was purchased (for
example in February 2009).

2) The names of the companies contracted to spread salt (gritters) in
the years 2006 to 2009 and the value of the contracts.
The Council's Highways Contractors were Ringway (from 2000) and
Volker Highways (from 2006). There was no separate contract for
gritting, as explained above.

3) The total (km or miles) of road over which salt was spread in the
years 2006 to 2009.
The question as asked is not answerable (the contractors do not
record the km or miles of road over which salt is spread). However, the
Council has a Winter Service and Adverse Weather Plan which details the
km of highway network for each type of salting provision. More
information on when these networks are treated can be found within the
Plan.
http://www.westberks.gov.uk/CHttpHandler...
The Plan gives detailed information on Primary and Secondary
Precautionary salting networks, and the Contingency Salting Network, and
detail on the lengths of each network are given below (taken from page 8
of the Plan).

The total length of the Primary salting network is 502.28 Km
which represents 37.43% of the highway network (excluding motorways and
trunk roads) within West Berkshire.
The total length of the Secondary salting network is 251.9 Km
which represents 18.8 % of the highway network.
A Contingency Salting Network to cover prolonged periods and
heavy accumulations of snow and national salt shortages includes a
network which is approximately 360km in length, represents 26.74% of the
total road network and comprises principal roads and frequently used bus
routes (routes with daily services) on the Primary precautionary salting
network.

Can I suggest you read through the Plan and come back to me if you
require further clarification or additional information? You may find
the appendices, which give specific information on salting routes, of
interest.

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may
ask for an internal review. You should contact David Lowe, Policy &
Scrutiny Manager, Policy & Communication, Council Offices, Market
Street, Newbury RG14 5LD, email [email address] if you wish to
request a review. If you are not content with the outcome of the
internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information
Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me.

Yours sincerely

Sue Broughton

Information Management Officer

Policy & Communication

* West Berkshire Council, Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury RG14
5LD

Email: [West Berkshire Council request email]

01635 519747 (external) ' 2747 (internal) 6: 01635 519613

You should be aware that all emails received and sent by this Council
are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and therefore may be
disclosed to a third party.

P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

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