A New Winter Approach: Crewe

On Wednesday 19th October, 2022, the A New Winter Approach team headed to Crewe to share their expertise with winter maintenance practitioners across the North of England, in the third face-to-face event since the group’s launch in 2019.

With over 50 local authorities and term maintenance contractors in attendance, there were varying degrees of experience at the conference – and it was encouraging to see so many experts sharing their knowledge and experience with those who attended the event.

The highlights included:

• A thought-provoking keynote speech from Dr. Hugh Deeming on the lessons learned from the sector’s experience of extreme weather between 2015-2020. Hugh discussed the findings from his DfT report and made suggestions on how its key recommendations could be used to inform and strengthen sector resilience against a changing climate – an issue that is all too real for many of the delegates in attendance.
• Discussions on the sustainable innovations available for the industry. ANWA’s expert panel, including representatives from Salt Sense, Winter Service Solutions and Exactrak, discussed many options for local authorities on how to embrace change and make winter maintenance operations more sustainable.
• Weather forecasting experts, MetDesk helped the attendees better understand the – often frustrating – world of forecasting by explaining how forecast uncertainty works in the context of a risk-based approach.
• A collaborative case study from ANWA members, Econ, Eurodome and Peacock Salt showcased a Scottish local authority who is already benefiting from some of the latest innovations in winter road treatments. The case study provided valuable lessons for other local authorities who are looking to improve their own operations and opened up further discussions on the implementation and benefits of investing in sustainable options.
• Further topics covered during the day included using data to drive decision making and designing more sustainable assets. The day ended with a networking opportunity for delegates to seek advice and guidance from the ANWA panel of experts on winter maintenance projects.

All attendees at the Crewe conference agreed the day was incredibly informative and provided valuable insights into how to make winter maintenance operations more sustainable, with 100% of attendees agreeing it was a worthwhile event.