Snow clearance crews have salted all 280 miles of main road in Bromley, as Storm Darcy continues to bring challenging conditions.

The predicted near freezing temperatures throughout the week mean gritting crews will treat main routes frequently as needed, with further work planned.

Residential side streets are not part of the council’s gritting operation, with volunteer group Snow Friends concentrating their efforts on these locations.

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Councillor William Huntington-Thresher, Executive Councillor for Environment and Community Services said, “We have been working over the weekend and continue to do so today, with our around the clock operations designed to keep all main routes across the Borough free of ice and snow as far as we can. 

“In these types of conditions, we need to keep applying salt. 

“This will be a challenging week as predicted low day time temperatures are expected for most of the week, which will mean that fallen snow may linger longer and turn to ice, making conditions more difficult.”

To be effective in periods of more extreme wintry weather, salting needs to take place on a frequent basis. 

The Council’s purpose-built gritting vehicles, equipped with GPS tracking software, focus salting operations on the main 200 miles of road out of the 500 miles of borough roads, with snow clearance also taking place on these routes if needed. 

When snow falls, the snow needs to be removed from the road, often with a squeegee or snow plough, and then salt is applied.  

Snow clearance and salting on high footfall areas will also take place, with this labour-intensive process focused on town centre shopping areas, approaches to schools and transport interchanges.