Aberdeenshire Council officers are reviewing preparations for the next bout of severe winter weather, should it come our way.

The council’s head of roads Philip McKay says that despite all the effort and commitment of resources earlier this month, “there is no doubt that the snow and ice caused considerable disruption to the road and footway network, particularly in urban areas and minor rural roads. Obviously, this is not what we want to see, and following such an event the winter operational plan requires that it is ‘reviewed in light of experience and changing circumstances.’

“As we come to the end of dealing with this on the ground, work on that review will accelerate.

“During this event gritters have covered more than 40,000 miles treating our priority treatment network alone, close to twice around the world.

“Footway gritting crews were deployed, treating and retreating more than 1,000 miles of footway.

“Some 1,400 grit bins have been filled, emptied, and filled again, and in some places that cycle has been repeated more than once. Grit has also been available from a number of recycling sites. All grit bins will have been checked and refilled again by the end of this week.

“In the two weeks up to the 18 December more than 12,000 tonnes of salt has been used in treating roads, footways, car parks and filling grit bins, with more than 7,300 tonnes being used from 11 to 18 December alone. This takes our total usage for the season so far to over 21,000 tonnes.

“This makes Aberdeenshire the heaviest user of salt this winter to date. Highland Council are the second highest, with around 13,000 tonnes.

“To keep supplies topped up, two restocking ships have arrived at Aberdeen Harbour been unloaded and salt distributed to our winter depots. In total over 10,000 tonnes has been restocked into depots. Arrangements are also underway for additional restocking in early January.”

The core issue facing the roads service was the considerable fluctuation in temperature – moving from as low as -11 to above freezing and raining; slight thaws during the day followed by freezing at night. That has meant priority one surfaces needed to be retreated again and again, delaying treatment of other roads and pavements, with the result the snow has become compacted and turned to ice.

Measures being looked at in the review include looking at the prioritisation of gritting for car parks and schools, the provision of additional grit bins, the refilling of grit bins, obtaining new equipment for tackling footpaths, and improving communication to make it easier for residents to report particular problems or bins in need of refilling for example.

I have made a number of suggestions, including reviewing the routes given priority (Banchory Devenick School being an example); reversing the current grit bin policy so that it is much more generous (e.g. there are none in Hillside); and having salt/grit available at Badentoy recycling centre for the public (now in place – it was an oversight).