THE last delivery to a gigantic mountain of salt has been made today as Hampshire braces itself for a freezing winter.

With bone chilling weather forecast, thousands of tonnes has been stockpiled as winter approaches.

A fleet of 55 salting vehicles and snow ploughs have already been checked and are on stand-by while 4,000 community salt bins have been filled and weather and road conditions are now being monitored 24 hours a day seven days a week.

Hampshire's highways teams are on full alert from October to the end of April, ready to deal with wintery road conditions.

Transport chief Cllr Seán Woodard said: “Keeping the main roads clear and safe is a priority for the county council, and this additional capacity at Broadmarsh puts Hampshire in a very good position when it comes to tackling wintery conditions.

“Despite all our efforts to help people move around safely, I would like to remind people to drive according to the conditions throughout the winter, and, in times of severe weather, to think if their journeys are essential.

“I would advise giving your car a winter check-up, as well as placing a spare pair of sturdy shoes, a blanket, shovel and a torch in your car in case of an emergency.

“I would also ask people to think about people in their local community and consider spreading salt from their nearest salt bin to help them and others move around local roads and pavements when they become icy.”

Broadmarsh, based in Havant, will hold 6,700 tonnes of salt in two barns, taking the county's overall stock levels to 25,000 tonnes. This will give Hampshire plenty of resilience to help keep the County moving through the severest of winters - should it come.

Five major salt routes will run from Broadmarsh covering Havant, Waterlooville, Horndean, Hayling Island, Gosport and parts of Fareham.

Salt barns are strategically placed across Hampshire, with others now fully stocked and ready for winter at Hook, Bishops Waltham, Weyhill, Totton, Micheldever, Dummer and Petersfield. With 5,800 miles of road in Hampshire, highways teams treat them on a priority basis.

Priority one routes carry the majority of the total traffic in Hampshire and include A roads, some B roads, major bus routes, roads to major emergency services, large schools, areas of high traffic concentration and all public transport areas.

These routes are routinely treated when the road surface temperature is forecast to drop below zero degrees celsius and ice / frost is predicted.

It can take approximately three hours to treat a priority one route. During prolonged severe weather, priority two routes, which include remaining B roads and single access roads to villages, are treated.

Additionally, community routes may also be treated to ensure roads to other smaller schools, GPs surgeries and areas of community activity are usable.

A number of factors are considered when deciding when to salt the roads, including a specially provided local weather forecast, and the Icelert system which consists of a number of roadside sensors which detect road and air temperatures, and conditions such as wind speed and direction, rainfall, and ice formation.