Weather watch in Lewes

The weather has turned towards the cold, wet and blustery (albeit with intermittent clear sunny days that make Lewes gleam) and this, of course, has implications for those travelling on the roads (there is little we can do to change the problems hitting the railways!).

Previous winters have seen School Hill closed with even police cars clearing the way slipping back down or only making it as far as Albion Street, so what are East Sussex County Council planning to keep the roads passable and traffic safely moving?

They say priority is given to:

· hospitals, fire, ambulance and police stations

· public transport stations

· main shopping areas and schools

· difficult sites (very steep hills etc).

Other gritting routes and exceptional conditions

During snow and very severe icy conditions we treat an additional 130 miles of secondary roads.

Requests to add roads to our gritting network are added to a list which we regularly review. Our existing budget means that we are currently unable to add more roads, but to have a road added to the list, please contact your local Highways Contact Centre.

Deciding when to grit

We send our gritters out before frost and ice are formed by freezing temperatures.

We schedule the gritting process based on the weather forecast. Where possible, we try to avoid the morning and evening rush hours.

When will my road be gritted?

If your road is not on our primary or secondary gritting routes, it will not be gritted. Minor rural and urban roads are left to thaw naturally.

We use a small size of rock salt grit which is extremely light, not very dense and is unlikely to cause damage to vehicles.

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Previous winters have seen Lewes close down – much to the delight of many who have retreated to the pubs, many of whose staff have made valient efforts to walk in from outlying areas like Ringmer. It is worth, however, stocking up onthose sledges – try Intersport – they sell out soon as soon as the first sign of a snowflake!

And keep safe.

For tthe latest weather reports for Lewes