Local councils across the UK are preparing for what is expected to be one of the worst winters for decades. To combat the expected conditions, councils have stockpiled more than one million tonnes of salt. The icy weather is set to start over the next week and councils are armed with some of the latest tech; with many expected to make use of an ATV salt spreader and an ATV snow plough.
Councils have access to enough salt to fill around 400 Olympic sized swimming pools, this happens to be twice the amount of salt that was available last year. Local councils have also invested in fleets of gritting trucks that are fitted with GPS, and specialist ATV snow clearing equipment.
It has been revealed that 39 per cent of councils have purchased new gritting vehicles, 27 per cent have new mini-gritters and 17 per cent have invested in other forms of transport, including quad bikes. Councils have also taken to the internet in the form of Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. These will be used to keep residents up to date with the latest weather.
Councils will receive weather updates which are up to the minute from experts in weather and gritting teams, which will be on stand-by around the clock to sort out highways around the UK. Extra staff could be called in to help deal with snow and ice in places such as schools and shopping areas.
While there is nothing that can be done to stop inclement weather, it seems that at least councils will be prepared to tackle and beat it, in numerous ways.