Winter Service Policy - Introduction
This Winter Service Policy and the associated Plan are based on key principles for delivering best value in highway maintenance as recommended in the Department for Transport document - Well-Maintained Highways, Code of Practice for Highway Maintenance Management first published July 2005 and subsequent reissues (the latest being October 2018).
Under Section 41 of the Highways Act 1980, highway authorities are under a statutory duty to maintain the highway. However, prior to 2003 this duty did not include a duty to remove ice from the highway. In October 2003 a new clause, section 41.1A, was inserted into the Highways Act introducing a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by snow or ice.
It is in the context of what is reasonably practicable that the Winter Service attempts to ensure the safe movement of highway users as well as maintaining communications and enabling everyday life to continue.
The council’s Winter Service Policy and Plan sets out its arrangements for taking preventative measures in anticipation of ice and snow and for removal of ice and snow.