A letter from Cambridgeshire County Council to all Parish Councils

I am writing to thank you for the support you have provided during this difficult winter period and to inform you of the present situation with salt stocks in the County following the pro-longed spell of cold weather.

As of 23rd December, we had 2,500 tonnes of salt left in the stores – this equates to approximately 17 runs of the precautionary gritting routes, plus we are expecting 1,000 tonnes to be delivered between Christmas and the New Year, providing another 7 runs, giving a total of 24 treatments.

At present we are undertaking at least one treatment a day, so we should be able to continue treating the whole of the precautionary routes until the New Year when the situation will be reviewed – a lot will depend on future deliveries that may be available and the weather.

We are continuing to work with our City and District colleagues to treat the highly used footways and cycle ways in the major urban areas in the County; in the last few days we have refilled all the grit bins across the County.

Unfortunately, we now need to conserve salt stocks – so we will not be able to re-fill grit bins or, in the short term, provide community groups in un-parished areas with salt and grit.  We will continue to look for alternative materials that are not suitable for the mechanical spreaders and if we find some we will re-fill your bins.

Once again, thank you for working with us to enhance the winter service.  I trust that you will understand our need to prioritise protecting the busiest areas – this decision will be reviewed once significant salt supplies have been received.