For, today, (1 November) marks the start of this year's winter roads campaign, with 29 gritters, 12 footway tractors, and four loaders ready to go across South Lanarkshire.

A team of around 150 dedicated winter staff will respond to three weather forecasts daily, gritting 49% of South Lanarkshire’s road network when snow, ice, and low temperatures are predicted – higher than the Scottish average of 45%.

This includes routes that give access to hospitals, ambulance and fire stations, police offices, and schools, as well as those providing the only access to rural communities.

There are also 31,400 tonnes of road salt in stock, almost double the 18,870 tonnes used during last year’s winter campaign.

Councillor Robert Brown, Chair of the Community and Enterprise Resources Committee, visited Canderside depot last week to see the preparations in action.

He explained: “Many local authorities across the UK have felt the impact of salt shortages in recent years, and as we enter the main winter period, we have made it a priority to have significant stocks for whatever this season might throw at us.

“At the same time, we have more than 150 dedicated members of staff trained in winter duties and, as ever, they will be working around the clock to keep South Lanarkshire moving, as and when conditions dictate.

“We may be experiencing an unseasonably mild period right now, but our specialist weather service lets us plan just how the resources at our disposal are used, as and when conditions change.

“Nonetheless, where there are extremes of temperature or significant snowfall, it can take time to mitigate, and we urge motorists in particular to keep up to date with weather warnings, and to follow the ‘be prepared’ advice shared during our recent winter awareness campaign.”

Throughout the winter we will keep residents informed in a number of ways, including through our Roads in Winter pages which detail, among other things, the approved winter maintenance policy, main gritting routes and grit bin locations.

You can also follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @SLCRoads and @SouthLanCouncil for 24-hour weather forecasts and see where are gritters are in real time on our live gritter tracker.