Purpose

Provide members with the outcome of the 5 year
review of the Roads Winter Maintenance Policy and any accompanying
documentation and ask for comments from members.

Content

The Committee agreed the recommendations with
the report and provided the following comments to Infrastructure
Services Committee:

a)   
As Meldrum and Portlethen Schools are PPI Schools and carry out
their own maintenance, it would be helpful to note this with the
reports so it’s clear that gritting and snow clearing was
their responsibility,

b)   
We need to have realistic expectations in terms of our volunteer
snow wardens,

c)   
Access to health and wellbeing services was crucial over the winter
months,

d)   
We need to ensure that we are considering PLACE within these
policies, and listening to our communities where it is appropriate
and where there is room for minor changes / improvements, without
any major impact on expenditure,

e)   
We need to take cognisance of greater volumes of water and wind in
the winter months, it’s not just snow and ice,

f)     
Grit bin piles being used by private property owners – do we
need to use signage to advise that it’s for the use on public
roads,

g)   
Cognisance was taken of the large number of private contractors who
assisted during the winter months, many of these being our local
farmers,

h)   
It was interesting to note that only a third of the drivers were
rural, and so the survey was perhaps biased to town driving,
and

i)     
Persons should be encouraged to be resilient, for example by
carrying grit and a shovel in their cars.