NEARLY 200 miles of Somerset roads won't be gritted this year during the cold weather.

Somerset County Council hacked 180 miles from its gritting route in October last year, in a bid to save millions of pounds.

The remaining 720 miles of road will still be gritted when it's needed.

The council says changes to its route will save an estimated £120,000, and changes to grit bin provisions will save a further £40,000.


READ MORE: Top tips from Somerset GPs to stay warm and well during cold weather 


At the time the cuts were announced, Cllr John Woodman, the council's cabinet member for highways, said: "We have to live within our means with greatly reduced funding and that means we’ve had to make some very difficult decisions in order to balance our budget.

"The one affecting our winter service was certainly one of the toughest. We’d rather not be in this position, but we have had to look closely at all spending to see where savings can be found.

"I’d urge road users to check our winter service information on the website which includes the routes which will be gritted in the event of ice and snow together with winter driving advice.

"We’ll still be gritting 720 miles of road, but it’s really important to stress that the vast majority of roads have never been gritted.

"Ice can still form even on gritted roads and our advice remains to always take extra care when on any road in winter and avoid unnecessary travel in periods of extreme weather.

"We also want to make it clear that our established emergency plans for times of snow, such as during last year’s Beast from the East, are not affected by these changes.

"We’ll continue to work alongside the emergency services to maintain access to our communities."


READ MORE: Somerset could see up to 10cm of snow, Met Office warns


The Met Office has currently issued a yellow weather warning for ice and snow across most of the country, with Somerset included.

The warning, which runs from noon today (January 29) until Wednesday morning, says the county could see up to 10cm of snow.

To check weather your route will be gritted, view the image below or search the council's interactive map.

Somerset County Gazette:

CHECK YOUR ROAD: The 2018/19 gritting map