Glaswegians are being urged to look out for those more vulnerable than themselves this winter while taking steps to mitigate the impact of poor weather conditions.
The Met Office is encouraging people across the country to prepare their garden, clear the gutters and have an emergency kit on standby in cases of severe weather.
It comes as Glasgow City Council approves its £1.4 million 2022 winter roads and footways maintenance programme.
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The local authority confirmed that road gritting will be carried out mainly by night shift staff based at the Gartcraig Depot, allowing normal day time work activities to take place without disruption. Roads will also be gritted during the day, as and when required.
Detailed hourly weather forecasts highlighting expected hazards such as frost, ice or snow will also be received by the council at 5am, 11am and 5pm. This will confirm expected weather conditions for the following 36 hours, allowing council bosses and winter supervisors to confirm what grit work is required.
With poor weather conditions posing an issue to everyone, the Met Office is now encouraging citizens to look out for one another in the coming months.
Met Office Meteorologist and resilience expert Will Lang, who leads responses in times of severe weather, said: “Severe winter weather can impact us all, but it’s important to remember that some are more vulnerable than others, especially the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.
“Ahead of severe weather, I’d encourage anyone to check on people they know could be vulnerable and help them take steps to keep safe this winter.
“People can take just a few simple steps ahead of winter in order to help mitigate the impacts. Whether that’s preparing your garden, clearing your gutters or ensuring you have an emergency kit prepared, these small steps now can save hassle in times of severe weather and can make sure people can make the most of it. WeatherReady brings together lots of helpful advice from our expert partners so people know exactly what they can do to prepare ahead of impactful weather."
This winter, 18 city council drivers can be on duty on any given night and resources can be increased when necessary.
As usual gritting of footways, cyclepaths and carriageways will be prioritised on three levels. Priority one footway routes include access routes to schools, pedestrian routes, city centre footways with high pedestrian traffic and shopping centres outside the city centre.
Priority two includes local shopping areas, health centres, day care centres, community sports centres, libraries, places of worship and any other places of local significance. All remaining footways have been placed on priority three.
When it comes to cycle paths, all busy commuter routes and the operational segregated cycle network have been placed on priority one level while all remaining cycleways come under priority level two.
All main bus routes, public roads which access fire, ambulance or police stations, Buchanan Bus Station and A or B class roads have been deemed as priority level one for carriageway routes.
Local places of significance including shopping centres, community and sports venues have been given priority two status while remaining carriageways are level three.
Elected members have now been invited to view the Gartcraig Depot to see how the programme works for themselves.
Councillor Jon Molyneux said: “I would be very interested in taking up the offer in seeing the operation in practice so I will be in touch about that.
“Through this process you have identified a hierarchy for footways and active travel routes as well as roads. I am interested in seeing how that structure would affect surface water flooding and leaf fall.
“Do we apply similar principles to other parts of the department operations or is that something we could explore in the future?”
It was confirmed that the council has a highway infrastructure that applies to all aspects of road maintenance which is separate from the winter gritting programme.
The council’s winter maintenance plan is expected to begin this month and last until April.
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