ARGYLL and Bute Council could reduce its use of a hired gritter fleet by four weeks this winter under proposals to go before councillors.
A review of the authority’s winter maintenance programme has also been recommended, a process which is expected to take a year.
The plans to reduce the hire of the gritter fleet, which would take effect over the first two weeks and last two weeks of winter, are expected to save £80,000.
The details feature in a report which will go before the council’s environment, development and infrastructure committee at its meeting on Thursday, June 18.
Executive director Kirsty Flanagan said: “The current winter policy and pre-treatment routes are based on a winter plan originally adopted by Argyll and Bute Council in 1996. A review of roads and transportation capability to sustain the previous unrestricted level of service was undertaken by an officers’ and members’ group in 2008.
“This was primarily in response to the stricter implementation of working time directive and drivers’ hours regulations.
“Effectively, the increased accuracy and frequency of weather forecasting and weather sensor monitoring services meant that winter treatments were no longer considered ‘emergency actions’ in the context of this legislation.
“The result of the review was the implementation of ‘driver only’ pre-treatment procedures, with the parallel introduction of a vehicle tracking system to allow remote supervision of treatments, in real time.
“Since 2008, the winter policy has been reviewed annually but is effectively unchanged. However, demands on service provision within the policy have increased with several extensions to the pre-treatment network.
“In some cases, this has resulted in the introduction of additional routes – increasing the number of vehicles and drivers required to deliver within the policy timescales.
“Additional routes are in some cases dictated by the physical capacity of the vehicles, within the requirement to treat narrow urban routes and single-track roads.
“By 2024, the pre-treatment commitment had evolved to include 1,248km of the carriageway, 54.57 per cent of the total adopted road network. This is the highest proportion of pre-treatment of all rural Scottish council roads authorities.
“This report proposes that a review of the pre-treatment network takes place over the next 12 months to confirm its effectiveness, and identify opportunities for achieving efficiencies whilst meeting our obligations under Section 34 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984.”
Ms Flanagan added: “In the meantime, it is proposed that the service reduces the hired gritter fleet period by four weeks in total, comprising two weeks at the start and two weeks at the end of the winter season. This will deliver a saving of £0.080m.
“This estimate is derived from current vehicle hire costs and assumes that no change is made to the existing pre-treatment network during the core winter period.
“The estimate does not include any significant change in operational response, overtime, or emergency contingency requirements arising from abnormal weather conditions outside the revised hire period.
“Accordingly, while the saving is considered achievable, the actual outturn may vary depending on winter weather patterns and any requirement for additional contingency measures.”
The committee is recommended to agree to the review, and that the service policy is brought to its next meeting in September for approval.
It is also recommended to approve the saving on hired gritter use, and it is stated that this can be implemented in winter 2026/27.
