Winter Gritting

Winter Gritting

We provide a Winter Gritting Service during the period end of October to early April to clear ice and snow from the public highway network.  The purpose of this service is to maintain the safe movement of all highway users, public transport, cyclists, motorists and pedestrians.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Which roads will be gritted?

A. There are six Primary routes in the borough where gritting is undertaken - representing almost half of the authority’s road network. These carriageways have been identified as being the most important routes for the safe movement of traffic throughout the authority and are made up of

  • M62 Motorway (Liverpool Boundary to Tarbock Interchange)
  • All strategic routes
  • Major bus routes
  • Transport Interchanges and bus stations
  • Interconnecting roads within important industrial areas
  • Roads leading to ambulance, fire stations and hospitals
  • Roads on significant hills/inclines and known trouble spots.

Our gritting routes are available as a map (PDF format) or in A-Z format (PDF)

Q. Why don’t you grit every road?       

A: We only grit the most important public roads. We do not have enough salt to grit everywhere and could never afford the vast amount of salt necessary. In line with every other council in the country, we have set routes that we have identified by applying national guidelines and speaking to organisations like the police

Q. What about our housing estate?

A:We do not generally grit roads on housing estates, or footways.  We would expect major retail parks and supermarkets to help their customers and grit their frontages and car parks accordingly. We use the grit, which is paid for by the taxpayer, to treat major routes only.

Q. Do you grit pavements around schools?

A: In very severe conditions, we do grit outside school gates, subject to salt stocks being available.  We also make sure that schools across the borough are informed about where they can purchase salt, so they can carry out their own clearance of key pathways, access roads and frontages. 

You can also listen to the news on local radio stations.

Q. How does the Council know when to grit?

A. Knowsley Council’s specialist weather forecasting system provides predictions of the possibility of freezing road temperatures, snow, etc – and is updated every 15 minutes.

Check the Meteo website for the latest Merseyside weather updates.

Q. Will the Council ration salt?

A: All council’s must take measures to conserve salt supplies. When salt supplies drop below a certain level, the Government takes control of its distribution under their “Salt Cell” plan. When this happens, the council is required to reduce its salt usage. In extreme cases, the Government can take control of all salt and decide where to use it.

Q. Who can request a supply of salt?

A. Supplies of salt are not provided to residents; however bags of salt can be purchased at local stockists.

Gritting salt suppliers

The Council is supplied by a company called Salt Union Ltd, and uses Thawrox 6mm Rock Salt. Businesses can visit the company’s website at:

Gritting equipment suppliers

Spreading equipment can be found at these locations:

Q:        Can I clear the snow outside my house?

A: Yes. We welcome your help. As long as you are careful and take sensible precautions, we are happy for you to clear snow from the pavements in front of your house. Visit  DirectGov for guidance.

Q:     Has the council learned any lessons from last year’s wintry weather?

A: This year, we set up a scrutiny committee to ensure that we learned all the lessons we could from last winter.

We have already made improvements by:

  • Fostering closer relationships and better joint working between council departments to deliver a more flexible service at a reduced cost;
  • Working with Merseytravel to better identify major bus routes, ensuring that they a properly prioritised;
  • Creating a Merseyside group where our highway engineers work alongside their colleagues in Liverpool, Sefton, Wirral and St Helens.
  • Working more closely with stakeholder organisations like housing associations, Knowsley Chamber of Commerce and Merseytravel;
  • Ensuring that better information about likely weather and road conditions is being sent to business, schools and similar establishments.

Q: Why does the cold weather cause potholes in the road?

A: Damage to the roads is caused by water and thawing snow seeping into small cracks in the road. As temperatures dip, the water freezes and expands, enlarging the cracks. This causes cracks and potholes to appear.

The council’s inspection and repair works are coordinated in order to return the highway to a safe condition as quickly as possible.

Q: Should I drive in wintry conditions?

A: There is no substitute for driving carefully, other than deciding not to drive in the first place. Public transport is resilient, and buses normally travel along main routes which are regularly gritted.

Find out about closures in Knowsley.