Snow in Marlborough- Weather, Travel, School Closures and Public Transport.

When snow does reach Marlborough here are some places to turn for information on weather, travel, school closures and public transport- in addition to Marlborough-specific snow updates on Marlborough People of course!

Weather

The Met Office and BBC Weather both have specific pages for Marlborough’s weather and give you details about any severe weather warnings.

Travel

Up-to-date information on road conditions on motorways and trunk roads is available on the Highways Agency website at www.highways.gov.uk/traffic or by calling 08457 504030. They also have a journey planner on their site.

School closures

Wiltshire Council will give lists of school closures to BBC Radio Wiltshire and will publish them on the Wiltshire Council website. Also check the schools’ websites themselves which should obviously have postings about whether they will be closed or not. Marlborough People will publish news as it comes in.

Public transport

A very useful website for information on public transport in the Marlborough area is Wiltshire and Beyond, which has this whole page on Marlborough and Beyond, with public transport details including timetables and links to bus operators’ websites which you can log on to to check for any service changes due to snow and other adverse weather conditions.

Meanwhile...

Wiltshire Council says it is prepared for winter with 13,000 tonnes of salt at the ready. Last year’s severe conditions meant the council used 12,000 tonnes of salt on the highways- twice the amount used in previous years.

This year the council is also trialling the use of salt which is coated in molasses, making it stickier, less corrosive and longer lasting than normal salt.

Wiltshire is also offering parish councils across the county a one-tonne bag of salt if they are able to store it in a suitable, covered location.

This would allow local councils to help top up grit bins during the winter when Wiltshire Council staff are focussing on clearing and gritting the busiest, highest priority roads. It is stressed that salt in grit bins should be used by local people for minor roads and pavements, which are not routinely treated during bad weather- not for private driveways or roads.