Teams across County Durham have been working hard to ensure life in the county is disrupted as little as possible despite snow, ice and freezing temperatures.

Gritters and snowploughs were in action last night on all the county’s priority one routes, in addition to priority two routes in the Pennines.

The gritters and snowploughs have continued to work across County Durham today as conditions have demanded.

Despite these efforts, however, some disruption has been unavoidable.

At the time of writing, the A66 was closed as large amounts of snow were being cleared from it by Highways England. Delays were also taking place on the A1(M) – both northbound and southbound – and on the A691 between Consett and Durham City.

On other major routes, traffic was moving, though more slowly than normal. People are advised not to undertake car journeys unless they are absolutely necessary.

Teams from Durham County Council have also been working to keep footpaths clear in town centres and around hospitals and clinics.

A number of the county’s schools have been closed because of the heavy snow. Parents can check when they are likely to reopen by going to facebook.com/durhamcouncil or twitter.com/DurhamCouncil.

The winter weather may also cause problems with bin collections and may disrupt the work of recycling centres. Residents are advised to check the social media channels above for updates.

Information is also available at www.durham.gov.uk/snow.

Durham County Council is keeping in close contact with care agencies to make sure that people who receive care at home can continue to do so. But people are still advised to check up on any family members, friends, relatives or neighbours who they think might need help.

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A drone image showing heavy snow in Durham City

John Reed, Durham County Council’s head of technical services, said, “Snowfall has been very heavy across the county, but we put plans in place yesterday to treat roads before the worst of the weather came and have been allocating extra resources to snowploughing.”

“Our staff and contractors have worked continually through the night and into the morning to keep roads and as many paths as possible clear. Ploughing and gritting continues through the morning in those areas most affected.”

“The weather has obviously impacted on schools and refuse collections and we encourage people to keep an eye on our website and social media channels for up-to-date information.”

“We’d also ask people to plan their journeys according to the weather conditions and to take care when driving.”


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DavidSunderland
David writes about local news, thought provoking stories, and yearns to capture the community spirit with a unique writing style.

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