The Isle of Wight Council has confirmed that 6 frontline gritters will be treating the Island’s road network this winter following a recent u-turn on their decision to reduce the vital service.
As previously reported by Island Echo, it was announced last month that 30 fewer roads would be treated on each gritting run as part of cost-saving measures. At the same time, it was quietly confirmed that the number of frontline gritters would reduce from 6 to 4.
Just 3 weeks after making the controversial announcement, the Council confirmed a u-turn on their decision stating that the winter gritting route would remain the same as in previous years. However, there was no mention of whether or not the 4 gritters would be increased to the standard level of 6 gritters as a result.
It has now been confirmed to Island Echo that following recent discussions between Island Roads and the Isle of Wight Council, 2 additional gritters have been brought in to maintain a fleet of 6 frontline gritting vehicles.
A spokesperson for the Isle of Wight Council has said:
“The Isle of Wight Council and Island Roads are in ongoing discussions to ensure there is sufficient resilience within the fleet both to provide back up in the case of breakdown and also to provide an effective response (simultaneous gritting and ploughing) in the event of extreme weather”.
can the Isle of Wight council confirm how much more it paid for the 2 new gritters, to replace the two it sold off when it decided to reduce from 6 to 4 ?
or to put it another way,.. how much more has the U-turn decision cost, than if they hadn’t made the decision to reduce gritting in the first place?
Don’t the trucks belong to Ringway?