Macclesfield to pay more for gritting?

Cheshire East Council could consider a potential “top-up scheme” with parish councils paying for extra gritting.

It comes after the authority removed 143 miles (230 km) of roads from its winter gritting plan after an efficiency review, while adding 64 miles of new routes.

Any changes would start in the 2023/24 year and would follow a further review.

A report also found the council had dealt with hundreds of queries about issues with gritting after the changes.

The council launched a review of winter gritting routes following Department for Transport advice to local authorities to ensure the most critical areas were prioritised.

The council said there was in fact no system for deciding which roads were gritted before the plan was introduced.

Some head teachers in the region had earlier raised concerns about road safety around their schools.

A report to the council’s Highways and Transport Committee said there had been 274 queries about gritting service between 1 October and 7 January.

  • 115 were about grit bins, mainly the replenishment of salt
  • 79 were from the general public relating to roads no longer being gritted
  • 13 were from the police, four of which related to roads no longer being gritted

Some town and parish councils, including Macclesfield, had asked for permission to pay for additional gritting in their areas.

This was refused by Cheshire East, although the authority said it would now look into the potential top up scheme.

The council is also proposing to begin an annual review of the winter gritting season, starting in April.

This could include considering the impact of any accidents following changes.

A further meeting was due to be held on 2 March.

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