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Motoring news

Council salt stocks risk 'freezing gridlock', warns AA

14/12/2009

Half of local authorities only have enough salt to cope with six days of freezing weather according to the AA, which has criticised councils' reliance on a 'last-minute delivery policy'.

The motoring organisation has warned that the road network could slip into a "freezing gridlock", after learning from the salting industry that councils are stocked with a quarter of a million tonnes less salt than they were ten years ago.

The AA says that the Highways Agency has given assurances that there are enough supplies for managing the motorway and trunk road network. It has sought a similar pledge from the Local Government Association (LGA) that lessons have been learned from disruption caused by February's snowfall, calling for a "strategic stockpiling" of salt, and intervention from the Department for Transport in cases where local authorities struggle.

It follows the LGA's own report, published in October, which looked at how councils responded to last winter's cold weather. Weathering the Storm made a number of recommendations for councils, addressing the supply chain and suggesting programmes of mutual aid between authorities.

Speaking to BBC Radio Four's Today programme, Councillor David Sparks, chairman of the LGA's transport board, said that it was "ridiculous" for the AA to focus on the amount of salt which authorities have stockpiled, accusing the organisation of "panic-mongering".

"The whole system comes into play," he said.

"Local authorities will have contracts so that the amount of salt can be increased within 48 hours with contractors, they will have arrangements to shift it around from one local authority as needs may be, and they will also have alternative contractors lined up."

Speaking on the same programme, AA president Edmund King pointed to the estimated £1.2 billion cost to the UK economy of ice and snow last winter, and highlighted the thousands of extra call-outs the organisation had to deal with.

"This is not about panic - this is about taking a serious issue very seriously, and it's about not wanting to repeat the chaos of last year," he added.