当大多数人还在享受着夏天的时候,斯特林Council的执行委员会正在为漫长的冬季做准备,同意就冬季服务政策投入100万英镑.

据负责人支出，财政上的投资将取决于天气的好坏。如果天气恶劣的话，投资有可能超过100万英镑。冬季服务政策主要是保证道路在冬天不受不了冰雪的影响。

Councillor Graham Reed, Executive Member with responsibility for Environment, said: “Although the Executive has set aside a budget of over £1 million for its winter service activities, this is wholly dependent on the vagaries of the weather. If we have a severe winter this budget could be exceeded. We cannot keep every road free from snow and ice at all times – our resources are limited, but we will treat the busiest roads and pavements first.”

Stirling Council Roads Maintenance team is responsible for 1000 km of roads spread across a rural and urban area of 2,196 square kilometres and 390 km of our local roads have been given top priority for winter gritting.

Top priority routes are all major roads which carry more than 800 vehicles per day, bus routes, roads providing access to emergency services and all primary and secondary schools which are treated for snow and ice 24 hours a day. The 137 km of Priority 2 routes are roads with more than 600 vehicles per day such as housing and industrial areas and some rural roads, which are treated when no thaw is expected before noon.  The Priority 3 routes cover 109 km of road with an average 400 vehicles per day.

The Council will also provide 450 salt bins across the district this winter – 60% of them located in the rural villages. The salt bins are for use on public roads only and will be refilled during periods of cold weather.

As well as coping with the winter gritting, the Council’s multi skilled roads maintenance team provide a crucial support role to the emergency services to deal with incidents like flooding, fallen trees and road accidents.

(信息来源: http://www.stirling.gov.uk)