Cheshire East Council says its highways teams are fully prepared with a fleet of 21 new gritters that will be on standby around the clock.
The new gritters contain innovative technology to make them safer, more efficient and produce lower emissions.
Salt stocks have been replenished ready to treat Cheshire East's road network. Gritting routes are planned and include the high-level roads to the east of the borough, where snow and ice tend to have the most severe impact in extremely cold weather.
The gritting team will treat up to 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) of road when wintry conditions are forecast with the gritters, which feature location trackers enabling members of the public to track them live online, on standby 24 hours a day, seven days a week from October until the end of April.
Paul Traynor, head of highways at Cheshire East Council, said: "Our winter season can stretch over a six-month period, so it was vital that our gritters are ready and our salt stocks remain high.
"Winter weather can be extremely unpredictable, so we monitor the weather forecast closely to ensure that our gritting routes are treated at the right time. We also urge residents to take great care when driving or walking when it's icy or snowing.
"Although we treat nearly half of Cheshire East's road network, we cannot ensure that all roads will be completely clear of snow or ice, so please take care – especially on untreated roads."
Cheshire East's gritting vehicles can be tracked as they treat the network at: www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/highways.
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I suspect Pamela’s comment was intended to be posted in response to the “Golden Glory for Alderley Edge in Bloom” article, but has somehow ended up on this thread by accident.
The issue of missed bin collections is incredibly frustrating, I acknowledge. A time and motion study was carried out by ANSA which suggested that the new schedule would be more efficient in terms of the number of trips the bin lorries would need to make back to the waste recycling hub. Unfortunately, there have clearly been teething problems with the introduction of the new schedule, the main reason for this being that new collection teams are now covering areas that they have not covered previously and which they are unfamiliar with. The initial problems should be ironed out quickly; however, I have registered a complaint with ANSA (who collect the bins on behalf of the Council) and copied it to the responsible Portfolio Holder at Cheshire East.
On a more positive note, residents will shortly be receiving an additional (small) green bin which is intended for food waste. The contents should then be transferred to your existing garden waste bin, which means that the winter suspension of green bin collections that has taken place over the last few years will no longer happen and your garden waste will continue to be collected fortnightly throughout the winter (apart from a two week period over the Christmas holidays). This new service will launch from 4th January.
Kind regards,
Craig