Procedures for Snow Clearing on the Surrey Research Park

Dec 12, 2011 at 2:13:39 PM by Joan Moore - Tags: - Comments (0)

    
In preparation for possible bad weather this winter, we have been in contact with the University’s Horticultural and Landscape Manager who is responsible for snow clearing on the Park. Subsequently, the following plan of action has been devised:

• The attached map shows the priorities in terms on road clearance.  The roads marked in red are vital for emergency services, and buses entering/leaving the Research Park, therefore they are shown as Priority 1.  The inner roads are priority 2 / 3, and car parks and paths are priority 4.

• Priorities are assessed and re-assessed on a regular basis and various colour coded areas may be worked on at the same time as it becomes necessary to clear the different areas.

• The department do not work standard hours in bad weather – the policy is for staff to work as many hours as necessary/possible including day, night and weekends in order to keep the roads clear – dependant on their ability to get to work themselves.

• There are three additional local contractors on standby in case the normal staff cannot reach the Research Park

The resources have been increased during the past year as follows:

o from 3 gritters to 6 gritters
o from 2 slow ploughs to 3 snow ploughs
o from 40 tons rock salt to 90 tons
o additional £25,000 in total spent on resources

As the staff often start work in the early hours of the morning (as early as 4.30 am on some occasions last year), it is likely that they may finish work before many Research Park employees normally leave the Park.  We should therefore all be aware of the work done early in the morning in order to clear the roads for our arrival and to consider leaving earlier if it continues to snow throughout the day,

We hope you feel re-assured that the University and the Research Park are doing their utmost to ensure we can all access and leave the Park safely - let’s hope we have a mild winter which would be a  welcome reprieve this year!

 Snowclearancemap2011.pdf

Dr Malcolm Parry

Director, Surrey Research Park.