1. Buckinghamshire County Council 1 Winter Service Presentation to Members November 4 th 2013 1

2. Buckinghamshire County Council 2 Winter Service Annual Winter Service Review Purpose Recognised as industry good practice Identify areas for improvement Consider member, parish and customer feedback Prepare Winter Resilience Plans

3. Buckinghamshire County Council 3 Winter Service Annual Winter Service Review Context Overview & Scrutiny recommendations – Summer 2010 Revised issue of Well Maintained Roads CoP (Appendix H) – Dec 2010 & Sept 2013 Final publication of Quarmby Report – Autumn 2010 Public expectations No funding increase

4. Buckinghamshire County Council 4 Annual Winter Service Review Annual Winter Maintenance Review Approach Officer winter review group Consider network priorities & selection Community engagement & Self Help Resources Communications Plan - Access to information Road Weather Information Systems – Forecasting and Weather monitoring stations Consider new developments

5. Buckinghamshire County Council 5 Winter Service Network Priorities Priority 1 Precautionary salting network 1405km (41%) –Includes ALL A & B classified roads In addition other important C & U/C roads Network selection takes account of traffic flows, route topography, bus routes (school & public), adjacent key facilities, community links, previous salting regime, efficiency and practicality. 25 spreaders from 4 depots Normal treatment run (for ice) – 65t salt (pre-wet salting) Maximum treatment run (for snow) – 170t salt

6. Buckinghamshire County Council 6 Winter Service Network Priorities Snow network Only implemented during severe weather or critical salt shortages. Reduced network – A & B roads only and some key links as follows: –major communities, key emergency facilities, facilities for other transport providers 700km (22%) 12 routes (24 spreaders and snow ploughs)

7. Buckinghamshire County Council 7 Winter Service Network Priorities Priority 2 Secondary salting network Include most other roads and footways such as: –Classified roads not included in priority 1 network, u/c roads serving communities of 200 dwellings or more, roads with gradients of >10%, high use footways and cycleways Generally only treated post weather event. Response times subject to available resources

8. Buckinghamshire County Council 8 Winter Service Review Communications Plan – Access to Information Website – Service Information Centre Twitter Radio/TV/Press Winter Driving leaflet Variable Message Signs Parish communications

9. Buckinghamshire County Council 9 Winter Service Weather Forecasting and Decision Making 4 forecasts received during each day Morning Summary, 24 Hour Forecast and 2-5 day forecast, Evening Summary Based on 3 Weather Forecast domains Detailed information on predicted Surface and Air temperatures, precipitation, frost and ice formation, wind direction and speed, snowfall etc

10. Buckinghamshire County Council 10 Winter Service Review 2012 -13 Facts and Figures Cold weather started early Nov – Relatively cold winter A number of snowfall events – at least one to a depth of 150mm (6”) Minimum RST – - 8 degrees C Continuous salting and ploughing Secondary salting Hand salting Salt bins Additional resources – Parish & Town Councils, District, Farmers & supply chain. Remaining winter period quite cold particularly Mar/April Priority 1 precautionary salting runs – 78, average is 65 Salt usage – 10500t

11. Buckinghamshire County Council 11 Winter Service Review New Developments Route optimisation – uses computer model to look at routes to work out the most efficient way of carrying out precautionary salting Following generation of model, sit down with supervisors and drivers to tweak routes Potential to make savings in equipment/labour Could result in slightly longer run times

12. Buckinghamshire County Council 12 Winter Service Questions