Decision

The Director of Neighbourhoods has approved
the Highway Winter Service Operational Plan 2025-26 and agreed
dates for 2025-26 Winter season as follows:

Start date: Monday 10 November 2025 08:00
End date: Monday 6 April 2026 (21 weeks) 08:00
Dry Run Training Day: Saturday 1 November 2025 08:30

This period may be brought forward or extended depending upon the
prevailing weather conditions

Reasons for the decision

Responsibility for the delivery of an
effective highway winter maintenance service rests with the council
as the local Highway Authority for Wirral.

The Highway Winter Service Operational Plan (Appendix A to this
ODN) sets out the proposed standards for the treatment of the
borough’s highway network as a consequence of winter weather.
It also sets out a framework of good practice within which the
Council’s Winter Service provision is managed and takes into
account the recommendations and advice set out in the national
guidance: Well-managed Highway Infrastructure: Code of Practice
(October 2016).

The co-ordination of works provided as part of the Winter
Operational Plan enable the Council to meet its statutory duties
under Section 41(1a) of the Highways Act 1980 (as amended)
‘....to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that
safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or
ice’.

Alternative options considered

None considered as gritting the highway is a
statutory duty.