The national salt situation

Do councils have enough salt in stock?

The Prime Minister, the Transport Secretary and Lord Mandelson have all said that there are sufficient supplies across the country to deal with the cold weather and therefore the LGA has no reason to believe otherwise.

At Prime Minister's questions yesterday, Gordon Brown told the Commons: "I assure the hon. Lady that salt supplies have been built up as a result of what we discovered and did last year. At the same time, I can announce that there will be greater co-ordination of the distribution of salt, so that those areas that need that salt will not be denied it. I hope that I will be able to reassure her constituents that they will get the salt and the grit that are necessary."

Councils learned the lessons from February last year and stockpiled more salt - despite forecasts of a mild winter. However, after the longest cold snap for 30 years and continued bad weather for 21 days, it is not surprising that some parts of the country have run their stocks down. Many councils have concerns about supply.

With the Met Office forecasting bad weather for the next fortnight, there will continue to be exceptional demands on salt supply for the foreseeable future.

The Department for Transport has convened 'Salt Cell', which will provide advice to the salt companies on how to prioritise their deliveries and facilitate mutual aid agreements.

How does Salt Cell work?

Salt Cell is convened by the Department for Transport and includes the Cabinet Office, the LGA, the Highways Agency and the devolved administrations in Scotland and Wales. It will assess which areas of the country need salt the most and make recommendations to the suppliers accordingly.

What is a mutual aid agreement?

If a council is running low on salt, it can enter into a mutual aid agreement with a neighbouring authority that has larger supplies - or the Highways Agency - to ensure everyone has enough.

Should councils have kept more salt in stock?

Councils learned the lessons from the bad weather last February and started planning as far back as the summer to ensure they had sufficient supplies of salt in stock. In making these decisions about how much to stockpile, councils have to take into account the cost of the grit itself, and also the storage costs, maintaining the warehouses and security. The Met Office originally predicted that there was only a one in seven chance of a cold winter in 2009/10.

Last month, the government recommended that councils should have enough salt to last six days of cold weather. It is clear, now that the cold snap is into its third week and no councils have yet run out of salt, that this requirement was met by local authorities.

What have councils been doing since the bad weather began?

An LGA analysis of council gritting activity over the last three weeks, since the cold snap started, estimated that:

• The equivalent of 1.7 million miles of road have been gritted by council gritting teams
• 200,000 tonnes of salt have been spread on the road
• £12.2m has been spent treating the roads
• 4,000 council staff have been involved in gritting operations around the clock

What roads are councils responsible for and how do they decide which routes to prioritise for gritting?

Councils are responsible for nine out of every ten miles of road in the country. There are roughly 250,000 miles of road (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_miles_of_road_are_there_in_the_UK)

The Highways Agency is responsible for motorways and major A roads, while Transport for London is responsible for arterial trunk roads in the capital.

Councils know their local areas and draw up carefully considered plans to make sure that they are able to cope when freezing temperatures hit. They prioritise routes that are important for public transport and for the emergency services.

Most councils publish their plans for dealing with severe weather on their websites. If anyone feels that a road is not being gritted that should be, they should contact their local council or councillor.

Which councils are responsible for gritting the roads?

County councils, unitary authorities, London boroughs and Metropolitan authorities are responsible for road gritting. They make up 150 out of 353 councils in England. District councils do not grit the roads.

If councils are gritting the roads, why is it we have seen some parts of the country grind to a halt?

Sometimes we can experience extreme weather over a short period of time. For example, in December several inches of snow fell across the South of England during rush hour, which led to some motorists abandoning their cars and meant gritters could not get through. Across many areas a mixture of heavy rain, sleet and snow, followed by further freezing temperatures meant salt was being continuously diluted - hampering efforts by gritting teams to tackle snow and ice that was causing severe problems on some routes.

The extreme weather has had an adverse affect on the whole of our transport network. Rail operators have announced reduced services, airports have closed and flights have been delayed or cancelled. The Highways Agency has said that some major 'A' roads have had to close.

Why can't councils keep all the roads clear when we get snow like in other countries?

We appreciate that many people have suffered disruption to their journeys during the cold weather, but councils are working flat out to keep the roads clear.

This is an exceptionally cold period of weather. The UK is in the grip of its longest spell of freezing weather for almost 30 years. Extreme or severe weather warnings are still in place across the country for both snow and ice. The Met Office is forecasting recurring snowfalls and subzero temperatures for at least the next fortnight.

Parts of the UK were colder than many of Europe's famous ski resorts last night as temperatures plummeted. Temperatures fell to -18C overnight in Greater Manchester and Benson, Oxfordshire. At its coldest, the village of Benson was only 2C warmer than the South Pole.

Despite the huge efforts being made to keep the country moving, we need to have realistic expectations. Nature is a powerful force and it is impossible to expect councils to grit every single road. Councils focus on priority routes and make sure that as many non-motorway roads as possible, and these make up nine out of every 10 miles of the road network, are kept ice-free.

Where do councils get their salt from?

Most of the salt is mined in Cheshire. The main supplier is Salt Union. Cleveland Potash, in Middlesbrough, produces salt as a by-product of its main operations.

What is road grit?

The most common material used to treat road surfaces prior to freezing conditions is rock salt. Rock salt is mined from underground mines. It is a brown colour because it is unrefined so it is often mistakenly referred to as grit.

How does gritting the road work?

Salt works by lowering the temperature at which water freezes. It relies on the action of vehicle tyres to be spread over the road, so requires traffic to be effective.

Can it get too cold for salt to work?

Yes. Salt will work at temperatures down to minus 8-10 degrees C. Below that salted roads will still freeze.

Why do councils need to keep on gritting roads?

Rain or snow will wash the salt away leaving roads prone to re-icing. So, salting ideally needs to take place after rain but before freezing

Don't councils put grit on the roads as well as salt?

Stone grit is only usually used on hardpacked snow and ice. In conditions where snow has already settled, grit can be mixed with salt up to a ratio of 50/50 to provide traction and help break up frozen surfaces.

What is pre-wetted salt?

Pre-wetted salt is salt that is mixed with water. It can come in a number of different forms and works at similar temperatures to rock salt. The advantages to pre-wetted salt are that it can be spread more evenly and more quickly, cutting salt usage by up to 25 per cent, and it gets to work faster as it doesn't have to dissolve first. But the equipment needed to spread the material is more expensive.

Can you use any other sorts of salt to grit the roads?

Pad white salt - a waste product of table salt - can also be used as a de-icer, but it is more expensive and needs to be used in combination with rock salt and grit.

Some highways authorities also combine molasses, an agricultural by-product, with rock salt. This material is more expensive, but improves adhesion so that more of the salt mixture ends up on the road surface rather than spraying onto verges.

Other materials that help provide traction, such as sand can be effective in breaking up ice and providing traction, but most highways authorities do not consider them as suitable for use on roads.

Other materials including potash or potassium chloride can also be effective as a de-icer, but is much more expensive, less widely available than salt and there are technical issues in spreading techniques that need to be overcome.

Are councils gritting the pavements?

Yes. However, with thousands of miles of pavement in the country covered in either ice or snow, councils are concentrating on the most important areas. This means gritting outside hospitals, shopping centres, schools and doctor's surgeries.

How much do council spend on this?

In 2007/08 the winter maintenance budget for councils, which includes gritting and salting, was £185million.

What are councils doing to ensure other essential services are provided during the severe weather?

Council staff have been pulling out all the stops to ensure vital services continue to be provided during the severe weather.

In Cumbria, Kendal Mountain Rescue stepped in for six days to transport carers around to vulnerable people to make sure the help they needed got through.

In Buckinghamshire, county council staff checked the welfare of 700 people during the heavy snow before Christmas, with care staff walking through snow to make home visits. 30 staff who were not supposed to be on duty joined the efforts.

In Bury, in some cases staff have stayed overnight with clients to ensure they receive the appropriate help and support this morning.

In Blackburn, community transport drivers have been running a service collecting prescriptions for people who can't safely get out of their