Salt bin plan at Hampshire County Council (From This is Hampshire)

Salt bin plan at Hampshire County Council

7:36pm Monday 11th January 2010

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MORE salt bins for residents are on the agenda at Hampshire County Council as it seeks to review the battle to keep roads open.

Council leader Councillor Ken Thornber, has asked officers to report on tripling salt bins in Hampshire from 2000 to 6000 at a cost of £800,000 to be met from reserves used for emergencies. These bins would be allocated in areas selected by parish councils or other responsible organisations. They would be used by residents to treat slippery pavements or minor roads in the most severe of cold weather.

On the issue of future salt supplies, Cllr Thornber added: “We started the winter with enough salt for 12 days ‘resilience’ - twice the level recommended by Government after last year’s snow.

“As salt supplies dwindled nationally, and the Government has taken over deciding who gets any further supplies, we have been carefully managing our remaining stock so that we can keep the busiest routes passable with care.

“A mixture of sand and grit has been used, in place of salt, on the secondary road network including some busy residential roads and rural routes.

“We cannot sit back and regard this as a once-in-a-30-year occurrence and I want us to look at the possibility of having multiple sources of salt in future so we don’t have to rely on Cheshire and to consider whether we might have more salt bins around the county.

“We would look for some arrangement with local communities so that we could mobilise the residents of Hampshire to help us. The county council is determined to try to provide this practical support to our communities in times of bad weather.”

He said so far more than £1million has been spent by the county council on salting and gritting the roads.

Cllr Thornber said he had been heartened to hear of the community spirit in some areas. He said: “I would like to repeat my thanks to Hampshire’s residents who have pulled together in the past few weeks, clearing their own paths and driveways, and those of their neighbours who were unable to do so themselves.”

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