Kildare County Council won't provide salt for local people to grit roads

Kildare County Council has resisted pressure to provide salt to be used by local people to tackle wintry road conditions.

A number of Fianna Fáil councillors asked KCC to review “salting policies for the county.”

They want KCC to explore the possibility of providing salt at appropriate locations for voluntary groups.

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At a KCC meeting, they  called for a needs analysis (so that) that a system be devised that “recognises new strategic developments that will impact selected routes.”

Two Social Democrats councillors Pat Balfe and Peter Melrose have separately asked for a “salt bin purchase and fill scheme for residential areas including housing estates and clusters of housing in urban and rural areas.

KCC said this requires a significant input of resources, including 25 drivers, vehicles, equipment, technical and administrative staff and operates at a considerable cost (€670,000 last year).

Another councilor, Rathangan’s Brian O’Loughlin, called on KCC to prioritise one main road in all small towns and villages in the county for salting during freezing weather “to allow access to emergency services, public transport and national roads.” He said to have one passable road out of a town like Rathangan would maintain a link with other neighbouring bigger towns,

Cllr Carmel Kelly said bins are provided in local authorities such as in Galway  and Meath where the bins “are left on a permanent basis and the council fills them.” She said places like Kilteel and Rathmore  can become inaccessible in poor weather conditions. Cllr Peter Melrose said bins are provided in 14 local authorities.

Cllr Tim Durkan said KCC should pay farmers to use fertiliser spreading machinery to spread salt and grit in winter when this machinery is not otherwise in use.

However KCC official Celina Barret told a KCC meeting that the provision of salt to community and voluntary groups has been explored on several occasions and assessed as not feasible.

A mixture of grit and salt is spread on roads which salt only is used on footpaths.

She said KCC currently operates 10 routes, treating approximately 705 kms of roads and this equates to the treatment of approximately 26.5 % of the road infrastructure. 

“This is higher than our neighbouring counties, who treat between 24-26 % of their road network and requires a significant input of resources, including 24 drivers, vehicles, equipment, technical and administrative staff and operates at a considerable cost.” The recent weather event saw over 30 drivers deployed.

The council’s salting trucks on all routes are running at capacity at present, she said

preventing the council from adding new roads without removing the service from another area.

Ms Barrett pointed out that at times of severe weather conditions, staff may give priority to other roads and junctions  apart from the standard routes that need treatment. This may include snow clearing and salting on additional roads at critical locations.

During the recent severe weather event, which ran from the 2 to 8 January, KCC spread 1,320 tonnes of rocksalt on the road network (over 35% of all salt used during the entire 2023-2024 winter maintenance season).

This work involved 22 salt spreading runs, with drivers and support staff working in rotation on day and night shifts, over eight days.

She said that due to the enormity of implementing a proposal to create a salt bin purchase and fill scheme for residential housing (including housing estates and urban/rural clusters of housing) KCC “does not have the resources to provide such a facility without removing sections of the 705 kms of treated routes.”

She added: “We will never get to salt all the roads no matter what we do. We are challenged to do what we can do (but) the maintenance programme is reviewed every year.”