Winter Driving

As the evenings draw in and winter fast approaches Central Bedfordshire Council, in partnership with their Highways contractor Amey, have been busy preparing for the winter weather – getting salt stocks filled up and gritters at the ready.
To mark the start of their annual winter driving campaign both partners are hosting a launch event this Saturday, 22 October at Asda in Dunstable, offering free car safety checks, a children’s gritter competition, and winter weather road safety advice.
Following last year’s severe weather the council has replenished its salt stock to over 5000 tonnes, procured a fleet of 18 new gritters and carried out road improvements on local roads.
To get Central Bedfordshire’s roads ready for winter, Amey have completed 22 surfacing schemes, 15 footway schemes, 8 patching schemes and one carriageway recycling scheme. 24 patching and surface dressing schemes have also been carried out, as well as 33 smaller schemes across the county.
Cllr Budge Wells, Deputy Executive Member for Sustainable Communities Services at Central Bedfordshire Council said: “It’s crucial that we spend the summer months prioritising repair work to our roads, such as fixing potholes, to ensure our roads remain in a good condition during the winter. It’s more difficult to repair our roads in cold, wet or snowy conditions, and during this time we need road users to be extra careful when out on the roads.”
Earlier this year, the council also received a Government grant of over £700,000 to assist with pothole repairs. The grant was the council’s share of the additional funding supplied by the Department for Transport, in addition to the Council’s own allocated funding of £5.75m.
Cllr Wells, added; “With over 5000 tonnes of salt in stock and a fleet of 18 new gritters, we want local residents and motorists to be assured that we are getting ready for winter. As part of our commitment to ensure all drivers are aware of the relevant safety advice, we are launching our winter driving campaign to help prepare road users when travelling on our local roads this winter, so they know how to keep themselves and their vehicles safe.
“On Saturday, children will have the opportunity to enter our gritting competition, to name our new fleet of gritters, and adults will be offered free car safety checks to assess if their vehicles are ready for winter.”