Guidance

National emergency salt reserve: salt protocol note for local highway authorities in England

Updated 15 November 2021

Introduction

Following the recommendations of David Quarmby’s independent review into the response of England’s transport system to severe winter, in 2010 the Secretary of State for Transport instructed the then Highways Agency (now National Highways) to build up an emergency salt reserve to ensure national resilience.

For this winter season (2021 to 2022), the Department for Transport (DfT) has retained an emergency salt stockpile of approximately 259,021 tonnes, with a further 92,554 tonnes being held by National Highways.

This note sets out the arrangements for allocation and collection of salt from the emergency salt reserve, if and when required, including the price of salt.

The emergency salt reserve protocol

Principles of the salt reserve

Local highway authorities have a responsibility to ensure that they are adequately prepared for winter by maintaining sufficient salt stock.

A resilience benchmark of 12 days/48 runs, as recommended by David Quarmby, should be adopted for pre-season stockholding for English local highway authorities. They should then review their history of usage and mutual aid or other arrangements to consider:

• whether there is a case for increasing capacity towards 48 runs if it is currently less than this, in addition to filling the capacity they have

or

• at what level to stock – at or above the 48 runs level – where the capacity exists to do so

The emergency salt reserve stockpile is therefore the salt of last resort, in the event of prolonged severe winter weather across the country. Therefore, we continue to encourage local highway authorities to procure salt for their own networks in good time to ensure delivery and do not rely on the strategic salt as the first point of call.

The government does not make any profit if there is a need to allocate salt from the emergency salt reserve to highway authorities. The premium price of the salt only covers the cost of the salt itself which was imported from various locations overseas together with the additional cost of it being stored at various locations around England.

The December 2010 audit that David Quarmby undertook at the request of the then Secretary of State for Transport also highlights the importance of making the best possible use of salt. David Quarmby had a specific concern over the variation in spread rates between local highway authorities. The audit contained a recommendation to central government, asking that we should urgently make available further research evidence from the National Winter Service Research Group to help underpin decisions by highway authorities on salt spread rates.

This work was completed in December 2010 and has been published by the UK Roads Liaison Group (UKRLG). Authorities were also sent a copy of this document.

DfT also draws attention to the wider winter guidance which the UKRLG issued within the ‘Well-managed highway infrastructure code of practice’ published in October 2016.

This links to the ‘Practical guide for winter’ as issued by the National Winter Service Research Group.

We also encourage local authorities that may be running low on salt stock while awaiting a delivery from their salt supplier to consider mutual aid between authorities. Over previous winters mutual aid came in many different forms, including in the form of ad-hoc requests direct to DfT or through resilience teams.

This year, we strongly encourage neighbouring local highway authorities to work together and provide mutual aid wherever possible given the challenges authorities may face during the forthcoming winter. If this causes problems, then the next step would be to contact the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ (DLUHC’s) Resilience and Emergencies Division (RED). The division, which can assist in mutual aid brokerage, can be contacted as follows:

• REDControl@communities.gov.uk
• 24/7 Duty Office Telephone – 0303 444 2718 and 0303 444 2799

Desk Officers within DLUHC’s RED will consider the request and try to facilitate mutual aid. This will entail:

• finding a source of salt, agreeing how much could be provided in mutual aid
• agreeing how the provider would be recompensed by the organisation requesting the aid (payment in money or salt amount returned after the emergency and once the outstanding salt delivery has arrived)
• deciding when and how the salt would be delivered

This would have to be agreed by both parties, the organisation requesting the salt aid and the organisation supplying the aid. Experience has shown that the above activity is likely to take at least 3 hours per mutual aid request.

Regular salt stock monitoring

Web portal system

Following the Quarmby reports, DfT developed an electronic web-portal system to monitor local highway authority salt stocks throughout the winter season. The functions of this system can be found within National Highways web-based severe weather information service (SWIS). DfT would appreciate co-operation throughout the winter from local authorities when salt stock information is requested.

For this winter (2021 to 2022), we will request, via email, that local highway authority winter service managers provide DfT salt stock data. The objective of this is to:

• monitor existing salt stocks across England, Scotland and Wales to ensure sufficient countrywide resilience is in place
• support timely data collection in the event of any future severe winter weather event

The frequency of the survey will be risk-based, meaning that it will be dependent on overall resilience levels across the country and weather outlook.

It is not the purpose of the system to benchmark performance of individual highway authorities, or to advise highway authorities of how they should be managing their winter service.

It should be noted that the information collected could be published as part of the government’s wider transparency agenda and would in any case be accessible via any relevant Freedom of Information/Environmental Information Regulation requests.

The winter road salt working group

Partners and responsibilities

Following each stock survey, the results will be made available to a winter road salt network group, who may meet if necessary. The group will bring together officials from:

• the Department for Transport (Chair)
• the devolved administrations (both Scotland and Wales)
• National Highways
• Transport for London
• the Local Government Association (LGA)
• ADEPT (previously the County Surveyors Society)
• the Met Office
• the Cabinet Office
• DLUHC’s RED

The purpose of the meetings will be for the group to consider whether any authorities require access to salt from the emergency salt reserve.

In addition, the group will also provide information, not advice or direction, to salt suppliers based upon returns provided by National Highways, devolved administration and local highway authorities on:

• salt stocks
• estimates of future usage derived from Met Office weather forecasts
• an assessment of the available market supply

Suppliers will then decide on their weekly salt delivery arrangements.

Prioritisation of who should be allocated stock from the emergency salt reserve will primarily be determined by analysis showing which authorities require an amount of salt to bolster their resilience to a minimum capability threshold.

Purchase of salt from the emergency salt reserve

If an authority is deemed, following the winter road salt meeting, as requiring salt from the emergency salt reserve, DfT will send the authority an offer of salt for purchase.

While DfT will be happy to accept a lower level of salt for purchase, we will not be able to exceed the quantity offered unless there are exceptional circumstances. Authorities will be given 24 hours to accept the offer.

If an offer of purchase is accepted, DfT will send a confirmation sheet with the tonnage to be collected. Highway authorities will need to make their own arrangements for haulage of salt from the emergency salt reserve.

DfT is unable to accept ‘returns’ once the authority has entered into a contract for the purchase of salt from the emergency salt reserve.

Salt cost per tonne for winter 2021 to 2022

The price per tonne of salt from the emergency salt reserve is £65 per tonne excluding VAT.

Future contact

DfT can be contacted at the following email address throughout the winter season for any salt-related inquiries: road.salt@dft.gov.uk.

Department for Transport
November 2021