Community organisations can receive free salt to grit their streets from Hertfordshire County Council, following a record year for requests in 2023.

Salt is also offered to schools for use on the highway, to help them stay open during icy weather, as well as to parish and town councils, who can use their local knowledge to identify exactly where best to use the salt during severe weather.

Phil Bibby, executive member for highways and transport at Hertfordshire County Council, said: “It may seem quite early to be thinking about snow and ice, but it’s important to plan ahead and be prepared.

“We look after more than 3,000 miles of roads. Every winter, our fleet of gritters are on call around the clock to keep you moving when the temperatures drop.

"We’ve already ordered thousands of tonnes of salt for the county’s main roads, but we will need to order more and, as in previous years, we’re happy to order extra salt for organisations who want to help keep their local roads and pavements clear."

District and borough councils that help with clearing high priority pavements can apply for up to 30 tonnes of salt to assist with highway treatments at no cost.

Resident associations and community groups can apply for between one and 34 20kg bags of salt, while schools, parish and town councils can request 34 20kg bags or one tonne in a hippo-style grab bag.

Last year 385 local groups across Hertfordshire took advantage of the offer, a 199 per cent increase on 2022 — and more than the previous two years combined (129 in 2022, and 223 in 2021).

This included a record number of 270 requests from Hertfordshire schools, amounting to a total of approximately 225 tonnes of salt being delivered to local communities.

The previous highest number of school requests was 252 in 2019.

Cllr Bibby added: “Our gritters aren’t able to get everywhere and it’s important that we are able to maintain the working infrastructure across the county, so it’s a real help when local groups are willing to do their bit too.”

The salt will be provided for use on the public highway, not on private property, and HCC can only make one delivery of salt at the beginning of winter.

How to get your salt

Groups need to apply online at www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/applyforsalt before Thursday, October 31.

For more information about Hertfordshire County Council’s winter service programme, including the routes the council grits, or to receive real-time updates direct to your computer or mobile phone, visit www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/salting and follow the 'salting decisions' link.

You can also find information on how to clear snow and ice yourself. 

You can also find out the latest salting decisions by following HCC Highways on X, formerly Twitter, via #grittertwitter on www.x.com/Herts_Highways