Daniel Ionescu

Lincolnshire County Council built a new salt depot at the Willingham Hall highways depot near Market Rasen.

The new barn will be used to store salt used for gritting the county’s roads during severe winter conditions.

Previously, the salt was stored outside under covers. The new barn can store twice as much salt in optimum, dry conditions.

The new salt barn at Willingham Hall highways depot near Market Rasen

The 43 gritters across Lincolnshire treat 1,869 miles (3,008 km) of roads , just over a third of the entire road network (5,500 miles) in the county.

All A and B roads are salted and ensure that all main NHS hospitals, railway and bus stations are linked to the treated network.

There are eight gritting depots in the county, of which seven now have purpose-built salt barns: Sturton, Willingham, Manby, Horncastle, Ancaster, Thurlby, Chainbridge and Pode Hole.

Last year the County Council used 40,000 tonnes of grit to treat the roads – the highest amount on record.

County Councillor Richard Davies, Executive Member for Highways, said: “Our salt reserves are shipped over from the Mediterranean so it has made financial sense to buy in bulk and we will keep what we don’t use for the following winter.

“We also expect to use less salt this winter as we can monitor the temperature of individual roads with our new-technology – so we can be more targeted with the roads we treat.

“Storing the salt in ideal dry conditions means it can be used much more efficiently on our roads. The salt is wetted as it’s spread by the gritter, which helps it to work better and spread more accurately, resulting in a 30% saving in the amount of salt being used.”

“Gritters can also stay out for longer, ensuring a better use of drivers’ time and more efficient use of fuel.”

Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance is getting a new helicopter next summer.

The AgustaWestland AW169 will replace the current MD902 Explorer, which is operated by the Specialist Aviation Services.

The new aircraft has a significantly larger cabin area, which will offer space for an additional person to be carried if required, such as a crew member, doctor, or relative of the patient.

The larger cabin of the AW169 will also give our medics improved 360 degree access to patients.

The AW169 is also able to fly faster and for longer than the current aircraft.

CEO Peter Aldrick confirmed the charity’s decision at Helitech International 2015, subject to satisfactory completion of contract negotiations.

Peter Aldrich, CEO of the charity, said: “We plan to continue to enhance the services we are able to provide to the people of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. We introduced a night HEMS service with our very capable MD Explorer three years ago.

“We are now looking for our doctors and paramedics to be able to deal with a wider range of patient cases and we are very much looking forward to doing this with the new AW169.”

The Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance first began operations in April 1994.

The non-government funded charity needs to raise £1.9 million every year to keep the helicopter flying and saving lives everyday. The air service operates approximately 3 missions per day, 1,000 missions per year. Each mission costs approximately £2,100.

With this upgraded helicopter in 2016 and the provision for additional doctors on board, the charity estimates the annual operational costs will increase to around £2.2 million.