Note to county councillors from the county council:

Salt stocks

Consistently low road surface temperatures have meant that our gritters have made 8 outings since Christmas day.

The cold spell has affected the whole of the UK, leading to a problem with salt supplies nationally. Currently we are in a comparatively reasonable position, with enough salt to last for approximately 6 more runs.

However, the current weather conditions are predicted to continue for the foreseeable future. We are expecting further snow – 1-2cm between 7 and 12 tomorrow morning, and heavier showers later in the week.

We have further salt on order, but given the weather forecasts, the national salt supply problems, and the possibility that the distribution of supplies may soon be nationally coordinated, with worst-hit areas taking priority, our supplier is unable to commit to further salt supplies to us at the moment.

In order to conserve our supplies therefore, we have taken the decision, for the time being, to stop providing salt to the districts and to roadside salt bins.

In the meantime, we are pursuing a number of other potential sources of salt, and we are also obtaining supplies of sharp sand to mix in with the salt, to make it go further.