North Ayrshire Council

North Ayrshire Council, Cunninghame House, Irvine, Scotland, KA12 8EE
Fax: +44 (0)1294 324144  Overseas: +44 1294 323963
Snow_Plough_Large

Snow Clearance

 

North Ayrshire Council has a statutory obligation, under section 34 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984, to take such steps as it considers reasonable to prevent snow and ice endangering the safe passage of pedestrians and vehicles over public roads.

 

Snow clearance will occur on receipt of a weather warning prediction between 25mm - 100mm deep or heavy snowfall over 100mm deep.

 

Please refer to our Winter Maintenance Procedures and Resources| (pdf, 232kb) manual for further information on this subject.

 

North Ayrshire Council has no responsibility for the treatment of trunk roads (A78, A737 and A738).  Please contact Amey PLC at their south west unit on freephone 0800 085 7136 or on-line www.swtrunkroads.amey.co.uk|.

 

 

Contact Details

Head of Infrastructure and Design Services

North Ayrshire Council

Perceton House

Irvine

KA11 2AL

 

Tel: 01294-225200

Fax: 01294-22244

Email: headofroads@north-ayrshire.gov.uk|

 

Emergency freephone: 0845 6030 594

 

 

  • Why has my road/ street/footpath/ not been treated?
  • It is not possible to treat all roads/streets/footpaths at the same time. Those roads/streets/footpaths for which the Council has a statutory duty to maintain are prioritised and the higher priority routes are treated first. In times of severe weather conditions some lower priority roads/streets/footpaths may not receive treatment for many days due to multiple treatments required on higher priority roads.
  • In terms of winter road maintenance, what is the difference between priority, auxiliary/non priority routes?
  • Priority routes are given extended winter maintenance coverage, treated before non-priority routes, and kept open or opened up in preference to non-priority routes during prolonged snow conditions. Auxiliary Routes are at a higher altitude than the rest of the network, more prone to icing and more lightly trafficked than priority routes. Non-priority routes are gritted after priority routes are completed and only dealt with after priority/auxiliary routes have been satisfactorily cleared during prolonged snow conditions. Adopted footways are categorised into priority and non-priority routes. Priority footways are main thoroughfares in towns and larger villages. Other footways are treated on completion of priority routes.
  • How does the council decide when to grit/salt priority 1 roads in the winter?
  • The Council receive daily detailed forecasts from the Met Office which are used along with data from weather stations throughout the region to decide what precautionary treatment action is required, in which area.
  • How do the council decide which roads to grit in the bad weather?
  • Roads are scored according to various factors and prioritised, with Priority 1 roads being treated first.
  • Can the council provide salt for me to salt my drive and path?
  • The council does not provide salt or grit for private use, but if we have surplus, we may consider giving you a quote for providing you with salt/grit.