FOLLOWING a summer when essential road repairs have been carried out, Gloucester County Council's highways department is now gearing itself towards the winter road treatment programme.

The council has said that gritters have already been out on a dummy run to test the vehicles and for drivers to learn the routes.

Plans are in place to salt all major routes when necessary including roads leading to emergency services such as hospitals and fire stations, as well as many of the most frequent bus routes.

This year Gloucestershire has just over 12,000 tonnes of salt in store, treble the amount held six years ago

Local snow plough operators and snow wardens are out in the community to help clear snow off local roads so that the county council can concentrate on keeping the main roads open.

There are more than 100 salt hand-spreaders out with the communities ready for the colder spells and the council has delivered more than 1000 bags of salt to local parish councils.

Councillor Vernon Smith, cabinet member for highways said: "As we start to think about the festive season and all the journeys our families will make, the county council is ready to keep our roads open during the colder times. Since April we’ve already made an investment of £14m in road improvements, which puts us in a good place as winter approaches.”

Between April and October more than 58,000 tonnes of new material was laid to fix worn out roads across the county, with 42km of new road surface, 66km of roads resurfaced with micro and surface dressing and further areas equivalent to 56 football pitches have been patched.

As well as planned resurfacing, surface dressing and patching over the summer, more than 15,000 potholes have been filled since April, and more than 4,350 miles of grass verges have been cut to make sure drivers can see safely at junctions and roundabouts.

In addition, highway crews emptied more than 20,000 gullies so that water can freely drain away from roads and footpaths, helping to prevent future flooding.