Purpose

To confirm the arrangements for precautionary salting on roads and the arrangements for winter maintenance, including the extent of the network to be treated.

Decision

I approve the decision set out in the attached report. This decision was published on 15 October 2025 and will come into force on 23 October 2025.

Reasons for the decision

The Council’s precautionary salting network and policy have been developed over many years and have proved to be effective.  The objectives of Wiltshire Council’s winter maintenance arrangements are to ensure, as far as is “reasonably practicable” within the appropriate resource level, the safe movement of traffic on the highway network in a systematic and priority-based manner.  The intention is to minimise delay and incidents that could be attributable to adverse weather conditions for road users throughout the winter period. The recommendations of NWSRG National Guidance and the Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure: A code of practice have been reviewed and improvements, as described in the report, are being introduced to the Council’s winter maintenance procedures.

Alternative options considered

Reducing the extent of winter precautionary salting on the road network would reduce costs but could have safety implications as the extent of the salted network has not changed significantly for many years.  Increasing the lengths of road treated would require additional vehicles, operatives and salt, which is not considered realistic in the current financial climate.  Meeting the full recommendations set out in NWSRG National Guidance and the Well-Managed Highway Infrastructure: A code of practice would have limited benefits and would have significant cost and resource implications.