Road gritting and snow clearance

When temperatures plummet, the Winter Maintenance Plan is put into effect to help keep Newham moving.

Newham's roads are pre-treated with salt against ice and snow on a priority basis, starting with London Bus Routes, and Main Roads which carry more than 1,500 cars an hour at peak times.

Dealing with ice and snowfall

Roads will also be treated after ice or snowfall to keep the busiest roads safe, and priority is also given to the next day's rubbish collection routes when resources permit..

Priority for clearing footways is concentrated on locations where injuries are more likely to occur, like town centres, traffic interchanges, shopping centres and outside buildings such as schools, old people's homes, day centres and doctor's surgeries.

During heavy snow or prolonged icy conditions it is unlikely that all residential roads can be treated.

Residents can find useful tips about self-help on the Government Website.

If salt alone is not getting rid of the snow or a further heavy snowfall is forecast before re-salting can take place, snowploughs may have to be used, as a last resort, to clear those roads which can be ploughed safely.

Gritting your street

To find out if your road or pavement is due to be treated, see our maps for Winter Maintenance Footway Treatment Locations (pdf), Winter Resilience Network (pdf) and Winter Maintenance Precautionary Gritting Routes (pdf). You can see the details of this programme in our Winter Maintenance Policy document (Word).

Call the main switchboard on 020 8430 2000 to report frost or ice or to request gritting. This will be passed to the Winter Maintenance Team.