THE severe winter weather in Somerset has led to a £200,000 overspend in the county’s highways budget.

Andrew Turner, the county’s strategic manager from highways, said heavy snowfall across Somerset in late February and early March had led to higher staff costs and the need to buy in more salt.

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But he lauded the council’s response to the inclement weather, stating that it had been the most effective county in the south west at dealing with the problem.

He also revealed that the cost of work in each kilometre of road in Somerset was lower than anywhere else in the West Country.

Bridgwater Mercury:

Musgrove Park Hospital in the snow

Mr Turner made these comments at a meeting of the council’s policies and place scrutiny committee in Taunton on Tuesday (May 22).

In addition to the major cold weather event brought on by the Beast from the East and Storm Emma, there were four localised snow events on the Mendip Hills and within the Exmoor National Park which were handled by the council’s highways teams.

In 2017/18 the council had a total of 82 winter actions – the number of times its gritting lorries were sent out – compared to 65 in an average year and 52 in 2016/17.

As a result of the prolonged cold weather, the council went through its entire stockpile of 6,850 tonnes of salt.

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While its supply never ran out at any point, the council ultimately had to buy in more than 3,000 extra tonnes – with a total of 10,167 tonnes of salt being used on Somerset’s roads over the winter.

Mr Turner said that the cost of salt, as well as the cost of staff working around the clock, had led to a revenue overspend of £500,000 in 2017/18.

This was reduced to £200,000 as a result of savings which had been found earlier in the year.

Mr Turner did not state how the overspend would be dealt with in the coming 12 months, but defended his department’s record, claiming that Somerset was “the most effective county” in the south west at responding to the weather.

The county already spends the lowest amount per kilometre on carriageway resurfacing – a total of £2,851 is spent per kilometre, or around £35 per head.

When all other road maintenance and repair work is included, this figure rises to an average of £5,048 being spent per kilometre.

Mr Turner also defended spending £8M per year on surface dressing – where stone chippings and bitumen are applied to prevent potholes – and said that 85 per cent of the supplies for road maintenance and repair were sourced from within the county.

He said: “We are seeing the benefits on the network of surface dressing, intervening to avoid more costly maintenance later on.”