Road gritting - how we prepare for winter

We are prepared for cold weather at winter. A major gritting operation is standing by, and several tonnes of grit is available for local residents and neighbourhood watches.

When we grit roads

We operate a 21 week period of out of hours standby covering the period November through to the end of March, when staff will be available for emergency call-out to deal with prevailing weather conditions.

In the event of winter weather conditions being experienced before or after the designated 21 week period, resources will be allocated as necessary to deal with prevailing conditions.

Read our Winter Service Plan.

Gritting main roads and residential roads

The borough's network of main roads is treated as a priority so that the emergency services and public transport can keep running. Smaller residential roads are gritted after.

We return to places that have already been treated in order to put down fresh quantities. Gritting will only work if it is done repeatedly because it needs the 'mixing effect' of passing traffic to work properly, especially if there is more than one snowfall.

View grit routes and grit bins.

Pavements and footpaths

The borough's 460 miles of pavements and footpaths must be treated by hand.

Particular attention is always paid to entrances outside tube and railway stations, hospitals, OAP day centres, schools, care homes, clinics and nurseries.

Red routes and adjoining pavements

The gritting of borough red routes and their adjoining pavements is managed by Transport for London - these include the A3, A24, A205, A214, A306, A3205 and A3220.

Our services

When there has been heavy snowfall, staff who normally work on refuse collections and street cleaning will be transferred to gritting operations. Refuse and recycling collections and street cleaning duties resume once the weather conditions improve.

Any disruption to our services will be posted on this page.

You can also get updates via Twitter.

Grit bins

A number of grit bins are to be placed at locations around the borough.

Request a service

To submit a request for your street to be gritted or if your street should have been gritted and it has not been, you can email onstreetservices@wandsworth.gov.uk.