Winter maintenance team in full force

Our staff have had cold hands but warm hearts this week as they’ve been putting in the graft day and night to ensure residents can travel as safely as possible around the borough.

As you may have noticed, the past week has been pretty chilly with plenty of ice and snow to match.

To counteract the effects of the wintery weather, our winter maintenance team have been in full action since last Saturday, gritting the borough’s roads continuously with over 800 tonnes of grit so far.

We have eight gritting routes in the borough which take two hours each to grit. With four vehicles, including Alan Clearer and Grit Sutton of course, staff members have been working at all times of the day and night to ensure roads are kept clear, with snow ploughs and all.

As temperatures continue to drop, further action is planned this evening and into tomorrow.

Although our salt barn has been in use a lot over the last few days, we still have 990 tonnes of grit left with a further 1500 tonnes on order, making us suitably sure that we are well prepared in the event of another cold snap!

When it comes to grit bins, there’s over 400 of them borough wide. Some residents have made us aware that the one in their area are due for a refill, so since Monday we’ve been trying to fill them back up as quickly as possible.

We’ve even roped in some extra staff to help as it’s not an easy task.

However, we’re feeling a little frosty as we hear that some residents have been using the bins for personal purposes.

Councillor Quesir Mahmood, Executive Member for Growth and Development and Deputy Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council said:

We are aware of residents not using the grit bins responsibly, which has meant that others have suffered as a result. Grit bins are for highways and footways only and not for personal use. We call upon residents to please be mindful when using grit.

If you need to grit your driveway, please buy grit from a DIY store rather than using the grit bin. Any locations on our gritting routes do not qualify for the provision of a grit bin.

All grit bins are expected to be full again by the beginning of next week at the latest.

It’s ‘snow’ joke how cold it is outside, and residents should be aware that during low temperatures, the effectiveness of grit reduces, becoming ineffective at extremes. We plan on spreading more grit as a result, however this is something everyone should bear in mind before considering travel over the next couple of days.

For more information about our gritting routes and to find out the location of our grit bins, visit our website.