West Lothian Council delivers

Roads and footpaths

 

Roads and grit

Roads: Every winter West Lothian Council has to treat 950 km of roads and around 1,000 km of footways to combat the effects of bad weather - where possible we treat major roads and imortant bus routes prior to the formation of ice. When it snows these important routes are treated first. We operate this service over 24 hours when necessary. Maps of main routes are attached at the foot of this page.

Policy: In Scotland, councils' statutory responsibilities regarding the Winter Service are defined in the Roads (Scotland) Act 2004, Section 34 which requires "that a road authority shall take such steps as it considers reasonable to prevent snow and ice endangering the safe passage of pedestrians and vehicles over public roads.

Although Winter Service is not defined an emergency service in the traditional sense in that low temperatures, ice and snow are regular and can be forecast, the Act and the Code of Practice for Highway Maintenance Management 2005 requires the "Road Authority" to develop Winter Service policies and operational plans for the provision of the service.  As the Winter Service should be delivered in accordance with a policy, the framework of which should identify priorities, West Lothian Council produces a Winter Service Policy, which outlines priorities and service standards for the area.

Salt for domestic use, residents in West Lothian can bring a bag to any of the Community Recycling Centres (CRCs) and collect salt/grit for personal use.  Please note that it is restricted to one bag per household and you will need to supply and fill the bag yourself.  Many retailers are also selling pre-bagged salt for domestic use.

Grit bins: In West Lothian we have 2,000 grit bins and it takes 60 crews to fill them. Please don't phone to report them empty, this will help us to deal with emergency calls quicker.

Council resources: 22 large gritters; 12 multi-purpose vehicles fitted with snowploughs and gritters; a fleet of small all purpose pick-ups; 29 mini-tractors; 31 snow-clearing machines. We also have contracts with private contractors who can be called upon should a serious snow event occur.

Updated: 08/02/2012