Salt imported from Peru for borough’s roads

Rochdale Borough Council Snow Plough/Gritter

Rochdale Council has imported salt from Peru to avoid a repeat of last winter – which saw the Council criticised for failing to carry out sufficient gritting, making driving conditions treacherous and journeys for people on foot dangerous.

The Council said it opted to get salt from Peru because the supply was “guaranteed.”

The Council bought 3,000 tonnes of salt after concerns grit could fall critically low.

Seventeen thousand tonnes of grit have recently been imported into the UK from Peru to cope with demand.

A spokesperson for Rochdale Council said: “Our duty is to keep the borough’s roads gritted as per the agreed gritting policy and we’ve managed to fulfil the needs of the policy.

“Due to external national factors beyond our control, which affected the salt supply from local sources, our highways partner Impact Partnership, through its contractor, Balfour Beatty, approached other salt suppliers to ensure we could continue to grit in line with our policy.

“Subsequently, Balfour Beatty was able to source salt originating from Peru. The price was comparable with the proposed charges from more local sources, but importantly it came with a guaranteed delivery.

“Throughout the winter period we have carried out our gritting as per our policy and procurement of this additional salt has been an important factor in enabling us to do so.”

Rochdale is one of many areas to be benefiting from such a supply to ensure sufficient winter stocks are maintained.