A total of 15 extra roads are to be gritted in Cumbria this year at a cost of £86,000.
The new roads are set to be treated following an annual operational review into Cumberland Council’s gritting network.
It comes after issues were raised by winter service drivers and members of the public when roads were removed from the network last winter, which resulted in accidents in areas including Cumwhinton and Wetheral.
Some parish councils, including Wetheral, claimed roads in their areas were removed from the network for the ‘first time in living memory’ and without warning and consultation.
They added that in some areas, children were unable to go to school, bus services were cancelled, vulnerable adults were unable to access shops and medical services and carers were unable to reach clients.
People were also unable to go to work and local businesses struggled to get customers.
The addition of the roads to the network this year will also result in the creation of one new gritting route which will require one additional vehicle and four new drivers.
These changes to the council’s winter budget are estimated to cost around £86,000 a year to cover the additional vehicle, drivers and salt costs.
Cumberland Council’s Highways and Transport Strategic Board will discuss the proposed changes on Thursday, to decide if the roads listed should be included.
The previous operational review took place in 2019 and brought about a number of changes to parts of the network receiving treatment.
A total of 15 roads are now set to be added to the gritting network as part of the council’s new winter service policy for 2023 to 2028.
The key roads being changed include the following:
- B5294 Frizington to Cleator Moor
- U4008 Rosehill junction
- C2064 Dubwath to Cockermouth School
- Cotehill to Cumwhinton
- Great Corby to Cumwhitton to Heads Nook
- Cumrew to How Mill to Hayton
Other roads (including overlapping roads) set to be added are as follows:
- B5291 Dubwath to Castle Inn
- B5299 Aspatria to Mealsgate (via Fletchertown)
- C2045 Hesket Newmarket to Millhouses
- C2047 Old A595 Thursby
- C2069 Stainburn Road
- U2137 Bolton Lowhouses
- U2165 Camerton (C2001 to Seaton)
- U4574 Old A5086 in Woodend
- U4380 Woodhouse Road, Whitehaven
- B5295 Egremont Road, Whitehaven
- C4028 Ulpha
The winter service budget approved by the council for 2024/25 is £1,816,527 – if the board decided to reject the plan to add new roads to the gritting network, the proposed changes would have to be re-evaluated for their affordability.
Cumbria has a huge network of roads and in order to tackle them with grit, a hierarchy has been created as part of the councils’ winter policies.
The policy works preventatively by pre-salting the county’s most essential roads before bad weather.
But to define what makes a road essential, the council has split them into levels of priority from level one to level three. But why aren’t my roads being gritted? Read more here.
Due to the size and resources required to treat the roads in Cumbria – the council does not consider it economical or practical to treat the whole of the highways network when undertaking ‘planned’ winter activities.
While the work to keep Cumbria’s roads ice and snow free is referred to as ‘winter maintenance’ the council said it is more comparable to a specialist operational service that is vital in maintaining the availability and reliability of the Cumberland highways.
