DRIVERS in the Bromsgrove area have been assured that plans to keep traffic moving in the event of a severe winter are well in hand.

Stocks of Cheshire rock salt at the county council's Lydiate Ash depot have been full for months. While work to fill roadside bins at strategic points throughout the district will be completed by the end of October.

The reassuring news comes from Terry Godwin, maintenance manager for the Highways Partnership in Bromsgrove. It's his job to keep the wheels turning by keeping the main roads free of ice.

The announcement follows a report last week by London-based Metcheck.com, one of the UK's largest independent weather agencies, which is predicting that the UK can expect a colder than average winter.

The company, which correctly forecast this summer's washout, reckons we can expect winter's first icy blast as early as this week.

Mr Godwin said the gritting lorries have been serviced and checked during the summer in readiness for their first foray, which is usually in November.

The partnership has already started to receive daily weather reports from the Met Office. These forecasts are backed up with information gathered from roadside sensors situated in various parts of the county.

But he says the decision to send out the gritters is not always an easy one to make. For example, if a frost is forecast but is preceded by rain, the salt is washed away. Then a second trip is necessary but at £5,000 a go for the gritting fleet it is expensive.

pete.lammas@midlands.

newsquest.co.uk