Local winter service plan

This is a guide to the winter service provided by Kent Highways and Transportation from 17 October 2011 to April 2012 for all districts.

It is a working document, which every member of the Kent Highways and Transportation team uses during the winter to Keep Kent Moving.

It complements the Kent Highways and Transportation Winter Service Policy and Plan 2011/12 (PDF, 141k).

Your parish may have requested salt bins for your area to help snow clearance.

Find your nearest salt bin.

Being prepared

Our contractors, Enterprise, are on standby at all times in case of bad weather, and outside office hours, to deal with emergencies as they arise. Extra Enterprise Duty Officers are on call in the winter.

The weather

The Met Office issues weather warnings when heavy rain, high winds, icy roads or snow is expected. 

• You can check the Met Office website.
• Additionally we receive detailed local forecasts every day from our forecast provider Meteogroup.
• We know from experience that conditions can vary widely between areas. There are circumstances when we declare a localised snow/ice emergency, but not a general emergency. In a local emergency, we will focus our efforts on dealing with the situation, using pre-determined priorities, until it is over.

The priority areas:

1.  The primary salting routes

2.  The secondary salting routes

Before starting your journey, you can see the primary and secondary routes in your area on our interactive map of salting routes.

3.  Pre-determined snow clearance priorities (for example certain steep routes)

4.  Anything reported by the public

We log, and follow up reports from the public to the Kent Highway Report line, phone 08458 247 800 or textphone 08458 247 905.

Followed by:

• Train stations, bus depots, taxi ranks, airports, docks and ports
• Shopping centres/main post and sorting offices
• Doctors’ surgeries, hospices, chemists, medical centres
• Schools and colleges (during term time) if they are not closed due to the winter weather)
• Industrial and commercial areas, council offices and waste transfer stations not already covered by primary and secondary routes
• Old people’s homes

• Crematoria and cemeteries

Staffing

The Duty Officer assumes responsibility for the winter service outside working hours and is usually the person who deals with all out of hours calls.

Winter Duty Officer is the Kent Highways and Transportation officer who receives weather forecasts and decides the appropriate salting actions.

Enterprise Winter Duty Supervisor is the Enterprise officer who arranges the Enterprise out of hours Winter Service actions.

Highway Manager will declare a snow/ice emergency when appropriate.

District Manager will co-ordinate action during normal office hours in conjunction with the Winter Duty Officer and where necessary the relevant Highway Manager.