Winter Weather Service Plan
Scope of this plan
This procedure note describes how Tower Hamlets deals with normal frost,
hoar frost and light snow that would be expected most winters. It also covers
heavy snow that is an extreme event. The winter weather service for LBTH
highways accords with that required in Well-maintained Highways: Code of
Practice for Highway Maintenance Management, UK Roads Board July 2005.
as amended on 29th November 2011.
Purpose of the service
To keep the public highway network safe for people to continue their normal
business, in extreme events specifically aiming to support transport operators,
schools, adult services and waste management to maintain operations.
Preparation before the winter season
Before the winter season we carry out the following preparation:
 Confirm the call-out rota
 Have a meeting with stakeholders to confirm arrangements, contact
and procedures
 Ensure that our contractor, Veolia, also have a call-out rota prepared
for their supervisors and drivers
 Ensure that Veolia have serviced their plant
 Order salt stocks for the winter so that the salt barn starts the season
full.
 Purchase a winter weather service from the Met office or another
supplier.
Period of operation
In 2012/13, the period of operation will be reduced to 19 weeks, starting at the
beginning of November and extending to the second week in March This
period may be extended if prevailing weather would indicate that this is
appropriate.
De-icing materials and equipment
We purchase 6 mm rock salt. This is used on both carriageways and
footways. However, on structures that are vulnerable to corrosion, we will use
urea or other non-corrosive product instead.
When temperatures are low, and on compacted snow rock salt alone is less
effective and, in accordance with guidelines we will use a mixture of rock salt
and 5mm/6mm sharp sand mixed at a ratio of 50/50 or the sharp sand alone.
The carriageway will be treated with grit spread from gritting lorries whose
spread rate has been calibrated.
Footways will be treated with manual drop spreaders that leave a 0.5m wide
treated strip along which pedestrians can travel.
Footways will be cleared manually in the event that the snow is too heavy for
the manual drop spreaders to operate.
It is not deemed practicable to use snowploughs in our inner city streets
because there is too much street furniture and because if the snow were
pushed to the side of the carriageway it would present a barrier to pedestrians
Client staff rota
To be advised.
This rota is supplied to Veolia our Winter Maintenance Contractor and the Call
Centre for information, with the Officers name and contact number.
Contractor contact details
The contractor is Veolia and the contact details are:
 Veolia front desk on 5133
 Chris Hodges on 07734 333837
 Ryan Hinton, senior cleansing manager, on 07793 373682.
Forecast information from met office
We use information from the Met Office and receive bulletins on what the
weather predictions are at 11:00, 17:00, 23:00 & 03:00.
We receive the forecast information about the weather for the following
evening through a recorded telephone message. It will describe what
condition indicators are given for different periods through the night and will
give specific information for local cold spots and bridges, for example. The
condition indicators together with the actions we would take on the
carriageways are as follows:
Nil: no action required
Alpha:
treat Category A & B routes
Bravo:
treat Category A & B routes, attention given to bridge decks
Charlie:
treat Category A & B routes, attention given to bridge decks, and
Additional Areas. Give special attention to cold spots i.e. areas
near rivers, canals which are largely in Wapping and Fish Island
Delta:
treat Category A, B & C routes, attention given to bridge decks,
and Additional Areas. Give special attention to cold spots i.e.
areas near rivers, canals which are largely in Wapping and Fish
Island
Snow:
routes
treat the whole gritting network which includes Category D
Tower Hamlets is covered by Domains 1,2 &3 and they are described in
Appendix J
Deciding whether to grit
Regarding carriageways, on information received from the Met Office at 17:00
the officer on call decides and advises the contractor whether to grit or
whether or not to be on standby At 23:00, the officer/ contractor (to be
determined) will receive further information and will decide on what action to
take accordingly.
Both Council and contractor staff can speak to a dedicated forecaster should
they need additional information/advice at any time.
Regarding footways, the officer on call will advise the contractor to grit if, at
17:00, snow is predicted. The contractor will make further decisions on this
following the 23:00 and 03:00 updates. If he finds during the night that actual
weather conditions are such that the staff can’t sweep the footway then he will
make the decision to treat the footway instead. .
Action for carriageways in normal winter conditions
Treatment is determined by the road surface wetness, predicted weather
conditions, road conditions, spreading capability and traffic levels. In Tower
Hamlets our salt is stored in a salt barn and our spreading capability is
reasonable. Since ours is an inner London borough, we will consider traffic
levels across our gritting network to be heavy on a national scale Special
consideration is given to local cold spots. The lorries can be calibrated in
5mm increments.
We will apply precautionary to road surfaces before the onset of frost, snow or
freezing rain so as to prevent the formation of ice or to prevent or weaken the
bond of freezing rain or snow to road surfaces. We continue to treat roads
during and after snowfall and when ice has formed.
The network will be treated in accordance with the table below.
The carriageway network that is gritted is entitled ‘The winter maintenance
network for carriageways and it is described in list form and graphically in
Appendix A of this document. The priority in which the roads are gritted is as
follows:
I. Category ‘A’ and ‘B’
II. Additional areas
III. Category ‘C’
IV. Category’D’
Spread rates for carriageways
Weather
conditions
Road
surface
temp
road
condition
spread rates
(g/m2). Salt
unless specified
otherwise.
Frost or hoar frost
forecast
1C to -2C
Dry, damp or
wet
10
Frost or hoar frost
forecast
-2C to -5C
Dry or damp
15
Frost or hoar frost
forecast
-2C to -5C
wet
20
Frost or hoar frost
forecast
-5C to -10C
Dry or damp
20
Frost or hoar frost
forecast
-5C to -10C
wet
2 x 20
Light snow
(10mm) forecast
20
Moderate/heavy
snow forecast
40
Freezing rain
forecast
40
During snowfall
20
After snow,
refreezing forecast
slush
40
Ice less than 1mm
thick
Higher than 5C (lower of
air/road temp)
20
Ice less than 1mm
thick
less than -5C
(lower of
air/road temp)
40 salt/sharp sand
mix
Ice 1-5mm
thickness
40 salt/sharp sand
mix initially and then
20 successively
Ice greater than
5mm thickness
Traffic not
started
breaking up
layer
40 sharp sand initially
and then 20
successively
Ice greater than
5mm thickness
Traffic started
breaking up
layer
20 salt/sharp sand
mix
Action for footways in normal winter conditions.
We do not pre-treat footways in the event of frost or hoar frost. In the event of
snow, however, we will treat the network described on the plan in Appendix D
The network will be treated once a day and a 500mm wide treated pathway
will be created as a result The spread rate is 50-100g/m2 depending on the
amount of snow and the wetness of the salt. If salting is not possible due to
heavy snow then the footway will be cleared manually.
The network was developed so as to provide access to the following locations
:
 Hospital and health centre/ surgery entrances
 School entrances
 Day Centres for elderly and / or disabled residents
 Children’s centres
 Pharmacies
 Around busy public transport areas ( excl TfL) and Idea Stores
entrances and other areas of high footfall
 Places of worship
The locations are listed in Appendix C of this document.
Action in a resilience situation.
Should there be an emergency that relates to weather declared by LA Gold,
then LLACC (London local authority co-ordination centre) will communicate
with the council’s Emergency Planning Officer. In turn, the EPO will
communicate with the Asset Manager and matters will be dealt with as agreed
and communicated through those channels.
In common with other boroughs Tower Hamlets will be prepared to reduce the
networks it treats and, if requested, the spread rate of salt. To that end and in
conjunction with other London boroughs, Tower Hamlets has developed and
agreed a resilience carriageway network which is described in Appendix B of
this document. It has also developed a plan describing the resilience footway
areas in accordance with guidance agreed by the boroughs. This is described
in Appendix E
In the event of salt shortage and in co-operation with other boroughs, Tower
Hamlets will give and receive aid as and when requested by or to LA Gold. It
will also use the regional store provisions in accordance with the agreed
protocol.
Record-keeping of action for carriageways and footways
Following any winter maintenance service Veolia will complete, date and sign
gritting record sheets (see Appendix F, G, H & I) recording what has been
carried out. These will be sent to the Asset Manager electronically within 24
hours.
Self-help
The DfT has issued guidance to businesses and residents on clearing the
snow outside their property. People following such guidance would be most
unlikely to be liable to being sued in the event of someone falling on a piece of
footway that had been cleared. The council therefore would be unlikely also
to being sued if they advised the public to follow such guidance. This
guidance has been put on the council’s website and the action described
therein is supported and promoted by the Council.
Communications
The Winter Weather Service Plan together with gritting routes and any selfhelp guidance has been installed onto the Council’s website
Appendices
Appendix A. Winter maintenance network for c/w
Appendix B. Resilience network for c/w
Appendix C locations that need access by footway
Appendix D Winter maintenance network for footways
Appendix E Resilience areas for footways
Appendix F Gritting record sheets carriageway network
Appendix G Gritting record sheets carriageway resilience
Appendix H Gritting record sheets footway network
Appendix I Gritting record sheets footway resilience
Appemdix J Domains
Ruth Seager
25th September 2012