Cuts to winter gritting service expected to be agreed by councillors

PLANS to cut back gritting on a string of Inverness roads this winter could be agreed by councillors at a meeting on Thursday.

Members of the city of Inverness area committee will meet to discuss downgrading the priority for gritting of more than 25 roads as part of Highland Council’s region-wide plans to save £440,000 through reductions to the service.

Lochalsh Road and Telford Road would be downgraded from primary to secondary routes, while others including parts of Fairfield Road, Carsegate Road, Longman Drive and Temple Crescent, could be classed as ‘other’, meaning they would be gritted “only as resources and conditions permit”.

A report from area community services manager Tracey Urry said councillors were unhappy about certain routes being re-categorised but they acknowledged savings needed to be made.

“The re-focusing of the winter maintenance provision within the existing policy may mean that certain roads across all priorities receive a lesser treatment than has been custom in previous years,” she said.

“It is important to stress that the categorisation of roads as ‘other’ does not mean these roads will not receive a winter maintenance service. It means that these roads will be treated after the primary and secondary routes have been treated.”

The cost-cutting move is part of a £42.9 million budget savings package over four years, which will see 12 gritting lorries axed from the 114-strong fleet, as well as cuts to the workforce.

The cost to Inverness over the next two winters will be two gritting lorries and two full-time workers. Councillors refused to agree to the move at a meeting last month because the paper laid before them at the City of Inverness area committee, which did not list the roads being proposed for downgrading, did not provide enough detail.

Members had to press for the list to be read out and were “astonished” to hear some of the routes being proposed for downgrading.

A modified list removing Lochardil Road, Smithton Park, Carse Road and Assynt Road, as well as Mid Coul in Croy and Achtermarach, Balnain and Shenval in Glenurquhart is now being proposed.

The recommended downgrading of Lochalsh Road and Telford Road in Merkinch would mean the council would no longer be treating the two by 8.30am and a new target treatment of 9am would be in place.

Other streets in Merkinch, including parts of Wyvis Place and Glendoe Terrace, are also among those set to have services scaled back. The prospect is a concern to Merkinch Community Council chairwoman Dell McClurg.

“If money is this tight they need to be considering putting more sand buckets along the street so people can pitch in,” she said. “That would be worth a try. Cutting back on some of these streets seems crazy, I wonder if they have any idea how busy the area is.

“Last winter the level of gritting wasn’t great but to hear it could be cut back more is a worry.”

Inverness Central councillor Donnie Kerr asked officials last month to put out more grit bins and keep them stocked-up so good Samaritans in the community could spread salt around neighbourhoods in bad conditions.

But community services manager John Taylor said that was easier said than done and it would be a struggle to keep the bins filled because of a shortage of drivers.

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