Nearly 500 tonnes of salt was spread on the network in 32 runs by Island Roads gritter drivers during the official 2023/24 winter maintenance season.

The figures confirm it has been a milder winter season compared to the previous year when 846 tonnes of salt was deployed across the gritting routes in 50 runs.

However, while milder, the heavy and prolonged rainfall during what was England’s wettest ever 18-months of rainfall meant winter maintenance crews responded to far more flooding incidents in 2023/24 with 143 jobs raised to put out flood warning signs, close roads and deploy sandbags.  In addition, there were 54 call outs to tree-related issues and a further 26 jobs where localised gritting was required in addition to the main gritting runs.

Though the official winter maintenance season – which runs between October and April – is now at an end, Island Roads will continue to monitor weather forecasts and will be ready to respond should there be an unseasonal cold snap.

Dave Wallis, Island Roads operations and maintenance manager, said: “I would like to thank our gritting and winter maintenance teams who have, once again, worked through some inclement weather and some late nights and early mornings in order to maintain a safe road network.

“Though there have been colder winters, residents will know all too well that this year has brought some additional challenges. Following the widespread flooding at the end of last year, there were ten named storms and also the wettest February since records began in 1836.”