Maidenhead & Windsor

With Windsor and Maidenhead snow flurries and freezing road conditions forecast for Wednesday and Thursday of this week, the Royal Borough is well prepared to grit local roads and is also urging drivers to keep their speeds down as the temperature plummets.

The Windsor and Maidenhead council's highways maintenance contractors, Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Services, are on 24-hour standby throughout the winter with gritters ready for fast call-out when frost and snow are forecast.

Salting the borough's roads is carried out on a priority basis:

* primary routes which make up more than one-third of the area's roads – covering 145 miles (232km) of the borough's roads with the heaviest traffic – are regularly salted when weather forecasts indicate that road conditions are likely to deteriorate.

* secondary routes – seven per cent of the network covering 31 miles (41 km) are salted during prolonged adverse weather conditions. These routes include some bus routes, roads outside schools, hospitals and some minor roads.

* town centre footways in Maidenhead, Windsor, Ascot, Cookham, Datchet, Eton, Old Windsor, Sunningdale and Sunninghill are also salted during prolonged adverse weather conditions.

Cllr Colin Rayner, lead member for Windsor and Maidenhead highways, transport and environment, said: "The latest forecast is for a couple of days of really cold temperatures and the prospect of snow. The council is well prepared to grit roads and footways – but the safety of our residents also depends on people driving according to the conditions. I urge everyone to keep their speed down and plan for longer journey times.

"My advice is to clear car windows of ice and snow before moving off and take all necessary precautions for driving in wintery conditions. I wish everyone a happy and safe New Year."

The annual gritting programme is monitored by Windsor and Maidenhead council's highways and engineering team, with duty managers on 24-hour call. They use information from the London Weather Centre and their computerised road sensor system to make decisions on when to send out the gritter lorries. The aim is to complete the salting before any roads become icy. Spreading the salt usually takes about four hours from the time a decision is taken.

Full details of all the roads on the borough's primary and secondary routes, as well as the town centre footways on the winter gritting programme, can be found on the borough website at www.rbwm.gov.uk

The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead