Snow Wardens support Glasgow City Council Land and Environmental Services‘ (LES) winter gritting service by co-ordinating groups of local volunteers to hand grit locations important to their local communities.
LES, Clean Glasgow and Community Safety Glasgow (CSG) support the Snow Warden initiative. CSG recruit volunteer Snow Wardens from their established Neighbourhood Improvement Volunteer (NIV) network, with training, grit and snow kits provided by CSG and LES.
The aim of the NIV scheme is to encourage groups and individuals to take ownership of their neighbourhood areas, helping them develop longer term strategies to make their communities cleaner, safer places to live, work and visit.
This year, 65 Snow Wardens will participate in each of the 56 neighbourhoods in the city.
Snow Wardens receive basic health and safety and hand gritting training from CSG staff. They also receive instruction on the Customer Care Centre process to request supplies of salt and grit from LES. Deliveries are thereafter arranged to a predetermined, safe, designated drop off point on the public footway.
A crucial aspect of the Snow Warden role is that they will work independently and in support of LES gritting operations which are carried out in accordance with the Winter Maintenance Plan and our statutory obligations. The Snow Wardens will operate in their own local communities and will have a knowledge and appreciation of specific streets, houses and amenities which they consider should be gritted. It is important that Snow Wardens continue to decide themselves on what and where to grit. This ethos works well as these locations by their nature may be a lower priority for LES, whilst significant to the local community.
For the reasons given above, it is not considered practical or appropriate for Snow Wardens to receive gritting requests, neither is it possible for their contact details to be made public due to Data Protection issues.
Snow Warden activity will be monitored throughout the winter by both LES and CSG in order that any issues can be managed and quickly addressed.
Council contact: Carol Lang on 0141 276 7428
More information on winter maintenance, gritting, traffic, driving tips, common questions, self help and the snow code: glasgow.gov.uk/winter
