Did you know?

• Salt: last year we used 22,000 tonnes of salt. We expect our salt supplies to be around 34,000 tonnes as we enter the main winter. National salt shortages of the relatively recent past have shown that all councils must be well prepared
• Gritting: 49% of the total road network will be gritted when snow or ice is forecast – including all A-class roads and important access roads (e.g. hospitals, fire stations, isolated communities). Typically, councils grit 43% of their networks, so we do more than the average. You can now follow our gritters in real time on our website – along with the names of some of the gritters which were chosen by local school pupils – Gritting Routes
• Our resources: we have more than 150 winter road workers with access to our fleet of 31 gritters, one snowblower, 12 footpath tractors and four loaders to help them salt the roads, clear snow and keep roads and footpaths in as safe a condition as our resources permit. We also rely on the assistance of many colleagues in Land Services, and mobilise farmers and contractors to assist when necessary

Chair of South Lanarkshire Council’s Community and Enterprise Resources Committee, Councillor Robert Brown, said: “Hopefully this week has been useful to everyone, as we want to remind people of the need to be prepared for winter.

“I believe the information we have been sharing will be useful to all our residents and will serve as a timely reminder of what to expect and how to cope as the winter progresses.

“We are all aware how quickly the Scottish weather can take a turn for the worse and our advice will help you to be as prepared as you can be.

“Our dedicated council teams will be out doing as much as they can during any challenging weather conditions we may face during the winter period.

Throughout the winter, we keep everyone informed in many ways such as our Roads in Winter pages that have our winter-maintenance details as well as main gritting routes and grit-bin locations. Meanwhile, on social media, check @SLCRoads and @southlancouncil for 24-hour weather forecasts and information on when the gritters will be out.