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Residents warned to only travel if absolutely necessary

Follow this link for more about winter services, and reporting incidents.

Large parts of North East England, including Northumberland, are expected to see some very wintery weather in the coming hours. 
 
Residents are being asked to take particular care tonight and tomorrow morning following a Met Office Amber warning for snow and a Yellow warning for snow and ice. 
 
Expected between 3pm this afternoon and mid morning on Thursday the Met Office warn that significant accumulations, particularly on high ground, could mean travel delays on roads and a chance that some rural communities could be cut off. 
 
Council teams have been working around the clock over recent days treating icy road surfaces – and gritting and snow clearing crews will be working overnight tonight to deal with the expected weather. 
 
Primary and secondary routes will be gritted both this afternoon and evening across the county, and a night shift is in place to keep primary routes open in the areas forecast to be worst affected.  
 
Snow ploughing will also be done where needed, depending on the snowfall, and farmer contractors are also on standby.  
 
Residents are being urged to take particular care on roads, and to travel only if it is absolutely necessary. 
 
Cllr Glen Sanderson, Leader of Northumberland County Council said: “We have as many resources as possible out in areas across the county and our teams will be working overnight tonight to deal with the poor weather that is forecast.  
 
“We urge people to only go out or travel if it is absolutely necessary.  It is particularly important at this time to avoid taking any risks, to avoid any risk of accident or incident which would add to the pressure on our already stretched NHS and emergency services. 
 
“I would like put on record my sincere thanks to all of the council staff who work on gritting, snow-ploughing and in other winter service roles.  They are doing an excellent job, often in difficult circumstances.”   
 
The council also has neighbourhood Services teams on standby to help with town centre footpaths and car parks and they will prioritise access to vaccination centres and mobile testing sites if they are affected by the poor weather.   
 
In preparation for winter weather grit bins are being replenished across the county and residents are advised to report any that require refilling via the Council’s on-line reporting facility at www.northumberland.gov.uk/winter   
 
To keep up to date on the latest information about winter services please follow the council’s alerts channels at www.facebook.com/nccalerts and twitter.com/northumberlands   
 
For more information on winter services in Northumberland including information on primary and secondary priority routes, please visit www.northumberland.gov.uk/winter 

Follow this link for more about winter services, and reporting incidents.

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