Winter Weather Service Plan

Scope of this Plan

This procedure note describes how Tower Hamlets deals with normal frost, hoar frost and light snow that would be expected most winters. It also covers heavy snow that is an extreme event. The winter weather service for LBTH highways accords with that required in Well-maintained Highways: Code of Practice for Highway Maintenance Management, Appendix H, Salting, Technologies & Avoiding Litigation. September 2013.

Purpose of the Service To keep the public highway network safe for people to continue their normal business, in extreme events specifically aiming to support transport operators, schools, health services and waste management to maintain operations.

Preparation before the Winter Season Before the winter season we carry out the following preparation:  Confirm the call-out rota  Have a meeting with stakeholders to confirm arrangements, contact and procedures  Ensure that our contractor, Veolia, also have a call-out rota prepared for their supervisors and drivers  Ensure that Veolia have serviced their plant and calibrated them to the specified requirements  Order salt stocks for the winter so that the salt barn starts the season full.  Purchase a winter weather service from the MeteoGroup  Measure our salt stock for moisture content

Period of Operation

In 2016/17, the period of operation will be approximately 19 weeks, starting at the beginning of November and extending to the end of March, this period may be extended if prevailing weather would indicate that this is appropriate.

De-icing Materials and Equipment

We purchase 6 mm rock salt. This is used on both carriageways and footways. However, on structures that are vulnerable to corrosion, we will use urea or other non-corrosive product instead.

When temperatures are low, and on compacted snow rock salt alone is less effective and, in accordance with guidelines we will use a mixture of rock salt and 5mm/6mm sharp sand mixed at a ratio of 50/50 or the sharp sand alone. The carriageway will be treated with grit spread from gritting lorries whose spread rate has been calibrated.

Footways will be treated with manual drop spreaders that leave a 0.5m wide treated strip along which pedestrians can travel.

Footways will be cleared manually in the event that the snow is too heavy for the manual drop spreaders to operate.

It is not deemed practicable to use snowploughs in our inner city streets because there is too much street furniture and because if the snow were pushed to the side of the carriageway it would present a barrier to pedestrians

Client Staff Rota This rota is supplied to Veolia our Winter Maintenance Contractor and Vangent the Call centre for information with the Officers name and contact number.

Contractor Contact Details

The contractor is Veolia and the contact details are:  Veolia front desk on 0207 364 5133

This rota is supplied to Tower Hamlets Staff and Vangent the Call Centre for information, with the Officers name and contact number.

Forecast Information from MeteoGroup We use information from the MeteoGroup and receive bulletins on what the weather predictions are at 06:00 12:00 & 17:00, we can also interrogate their website and can view weather fronts on an hourly basis should the need arise

We also receive advanced forecast for the next 36 hours and a 2-10 days.

In addition we can contact MeteoGroup at anytime for forecast information about the weather and speak to the Forecasters directly. This information will describe what condition indicators are given through the night, and covers the three domains that exist within our Borough. (City, Central and Lea).

The condition indicators are shown below in the form of a traffic light system:-

Readiness Colour Coding

GREEN - Road Surface Temperatures are expected to remain above plus 1C No action required AMBER - Road Surface Temperatures are expected to drop to between (and including) zero and 1C - Road Surface Temperatures are expected to drop below zero but roads are predicted to remain dry - On a low confidence marginal forecast amber may be used if Road Surface Temperatures are expected to drop between 1C and 2C Refer to forecast summary before making decision to act

RED - Road Surface Temperatures are expected to fall below freezing with ice and/or snow accumulations and/or freezing rain likely Treat Category A & B routes inclusive of cycle routes on & off the public highway Treat Category A & B routes, attention given to bridge decks and additional areas including Wapping and Fish Island Treat the whole network Category A, B, C & D

Where applicable individual boxes for Ice/Hoar Frost/Snow/Drifting/Heavy Rain/Fog/Freezing Rain will be coloured for ease of decision making.

Tower Hamlets is covered by Domains 1, 2 &3 and they are described in Appendix J

Deciding Whether to Grit Carriageways On information received from the MeteoGroup at 17:00 the officer on call decides and advises the contractor whether to grit or to go on standby. Continual observation of the website will allow the Officer on call to decide on what action to take should the weather improve or deteriorate. If further clarification or advice is required Officers are in direct contact with MeteoGroup.

Footways The Contractor on commencing the morning shift will make a decision to grit if he finds that during the night the actual weather conditions are such that the staff can’t sweep the footway

Action for Carriageways in Normal Winter Conditions Treatment is determined by the road surface wetness, predicted weather conditions, road conditions, spreading capability and traffic levels. In Tower Hamlets our salt is stored in a salt barn and our spreading capability is reasonable. Since ours is an inner London borough, we will consider traffic levels across our gritting network to be heavy on a national scale Special consideration is given to local cold spots. The lorries can be calibrated in 5mm increments. We will apply precautionary gritting to road surfaces before the onset of frost, snow or freezing rain so as to prevent the formation of ice or to prevent or weaken the bond of freezing rain or snow to road surfaces. We continue to treat roads during and after snowfall and when ice has formed.

The network will be treated in accordance with the table below.

The carriageway network that is gritted is entitled ‘The winter maintenance network for carriageways and it is described in list form and graphically in Appendix A of this document. The priority in which the roads are gritted is as follows:

I. Category ‘A’ and ‘B’ Inclusive of cycle routes on & off the public highway II. Additional areas III. Category ‘C’ IV. Category `D’

Spread Rates for Carriageways

Weather Road Road Spread rates conditions surfac conditi (g/m2). Salt e temp on unless specified otherwise.

Frost or hoar frost At or above Dry or damp 8 (10) forecast -2C

Frost or hoar frost At or above Wet 10 forecast -2C

Frost or hoar frost -2C to -5C Dry or damp 15 forecast

Frost or hoar frost -2C to -5C Wet 25 forecast

Frost or hoar frost -5C to -10C Dry or damp 29 (30) forecast

Frost or hoar frost -5C to -10C Wet 2 x 24 (25) forecast

Light snow 40 forecast Moderate/Heavy 40 snow forecast

Freezing rain 40 forecast

After snow, Slush 40 refreezing forecast

Ice less than 1mm Higher than 20 thick -5C (lower of air/road temp)

Ice less than 1mm Less than -5C 40 salt/sharp sand thick (lower mix of air/road temp)

Ice 1-5mm 40 salt/sharp sand thickness mix initially and then 20 successively

Ice greater than Traffic not 40 sharp sand initially 5mm started and then 20 thickness breaking successively up layer

Ice greater than Traffic started 20 salt/sharp sand 5mm breaking mix thickness up layer

Action for Footways in Normal Winter Conditions. We do not pre-treat footways in the event of frost or hoar frost. In the event of snow, however, we will treat the network described on the plan in Appendix D The network will be treated once a day and a 500mm wide treated pathway will be created as a result The spread rate is 50-100g/m2 depending on the amount of snow and the wetness of the salt. If salting is not possible due to heavy snow then the footway will be cleared manually. The network was developed so as to provide access to the following locations:  Hospital and health centre/ surgery entrances  School entrances  Day Centres for elderly and / or disabled residents  Children’s centres  Pharmacies  Around busy public transport areas ( excl TfL) and Idea Stores entrances and other areas of high footfall  Places of worship

The locations are listed in Appendix C of this document.

Action in a Resilience Situation.

Should there be an emergency that relates to weather declared by LA Gold, then LLACC (London local authority co-ordination centre) will communicate with the council’s Emergency Planning Officer. In turn, the EPO will communicate with the Asset Manager and matters will be dealt with as agreed and communicated through those channels.

In common with other boroughs Tower Hamlets will be prepared to reduce the networks it treats and, if requested, the spread rate of salt. To that end and in conjunction with other London boroughs, Tower Hamlets has developed and agreed a resilience carriageway network which is described in Appendix B of this document. It has also developed a plan describing the resilience footway areas in accordance with guidance agreed by the boroughs. This is described in Appendix E

In the event of salt shortage and in co-operation with other boroughs, Tower Hamlets will give and receive aid as and when requested by or to LA Gold. It will also use the regional store provisions in accordance with the agreed protocol.

Record-Keeping of Action for Carriageways and Footways Following any winter maintenance service Veolia will complete, date and sign gritting record sheets (see Appendix F, G, H & I) recording what has been carried out. These will be sent to the Asset Manager electronically within 24 hours. Self-Help

The DfT has issued guidance to businesses and residents on clearing the snow outside their property. People following such guidance would be most unlikely to be liable to being sued in the event of someone falling on a piece of footway that had been cleared. The council therefore would be unlikely also to being sued if they advised the public to follow such guidance. This guidance has been put on the council’s website and the action described therein is supported and promoted by the Council.

Communications

The Winter Weather Service Plan together with gritting routes and any self- help guidance has been installed onto the Council’s website

Appendices Appendix A Winter maintenance network for c/w Appendix B Resilience network for c/w Appendix C Locations that need access by footway Appendix D Winter maintenance network for footways Appendix E Resilience areas for footways Appendix F Gritting record sheets carriageway network Appendix G Gritting record sheets carriageway resilience Appendix H Gritting record sheets footway network Appendix I Gritting record sheets footway resilience Appendix J Domains

Jeff Aghoghogbe October 2016