Cornwall Council says staff have been working around the clock to deal with issues caused by the snow and ice which has been affecting large parts of Cornwall over the past 24 hours.

The Council’s gritters first went out at 2pm yesterday (Tuesday) to carry out precautionary salting on the 25 main routes, with CORMAC then carrying out further gritting at 2am, at 6am and at 11 am this morning with snow ploughs attached to the gritting lorries.

After completing the precautionary salting on these routes, which include the most heavily trafficked A and B roads, the crews have been treating secondary routes and dealing with any specific issues. With falling temperatures and the risk of ice forecast for this evening and the early hours of tomorrow morning, and further snow showers and strong winds then expected to affect Cornwall through most of the day, the gritters will be working throughout tonight and tomorrow to keep Cornwall moving.

In the event of a highways emergency out of hours please call 0300 1234 222.

Councillor Geoff Brown, the portfolio holder for transport, is continuing to urge drivers to take special care and drive according to the road and weather conditions.

“While CORMAC have done a superb job in treating the roads, in some areas their efforts have been hampered by congestion problems as large numbers of people left work early to avoid the snow or pick up their children from schools which had closed“ he said.

“Ideally we would advise people not to travel in really bad weather if their journey is not essential. If parents and carers do have to travel we would ask them to try and stagger their journeys so the gritters can get through.

“ While some bus services were affected by the snow and ice earlier today, particularly in the Falmouth and Penryn and Lizard areas, the majority of routes have been operating normally, including the Council’s Park and Ride service in Truro. "

The latest information from Network Rail is that all mainline trains are running to time; but there may be some disruption to branch lines. Passengers are advised to check before embarking on a journey and to take care when crossing station platforms which may be slippery. The Council’s website has details of which roads are treated and information on clearing roads and pavements in local communities. Visit http://www.cornwall.gov.uk/snow. for more information. This site also has information on winter driving tips .

Even where a road has been gritted, motorists should never assume that a road is safe as black ice, freezing rain and sudden hail storms as well as snow can lead to hazardous driving conditions.

For information on winter driving, winter wellbeing and snow and ice, please visit www.cornwall.gov.uk/snow The impact of today’s severe weather also led to the closure of a number of schools.

Of Cornwall’s 279 schools, 185 were either closed all day or closed early as a result of the weather. With further snow and ice forecast over the next 24 hours 69 schools have so far confirmed that they will also be closed tomorrow.

Parents and carers of children attending these schools are being contacted directly by their child’s school.

The Council is continuing to update a list of school closures which can be accessed via www.cornwall.gov.uk/snow The weather has caused disruption to some rubbish and recycling collections.

While more than half of collections were carried out as scheduled today, the deteriorating weather at lunchtime meant it was not possible to complete all the routes. Anyone whose black bag waste has not been collected today as scheduled is asked to hold onto it until next week. We will be providing information about plans for collecting recycling and garden waste as soon as the arrangements have been confirmed.

While the Fire and Rescue service has not experienced any issues with mobilising crews to the scenes of incidents today, snow chains were sent to fire stations in the West of Cornwall so they could be fitted to fire appliances if required.

The Council is working with providers to ensure that essential services continue to be provided throughout this period, particularly to vulnerable people. Staff from Adult Care are liaising with care providers to ensure that support is provided to frail and elderly people, with plans in place to use 4 by 4 vehicles to transport staff if required.

The Council is also continuing to work with Cornwall Housing, St Petroc’s Society and other organisations who work with rough sleepers in Cornwall, to provide emergency accommodation and other services.

The Cold Weather Provision (CWP) plans, which include St Petroc’s Society Truro Resource Centre operating as a temporary night shelter and Cornwall Housing placing rough sleepers into emergency accommodation where appropriate, were put in place yesterday and will remain in place until at least 5 March.

Residents concerned about someone sleeping rough can contact Streetlink – a 24/7 website, mobile app and phone line which allows anyone who has a concern, to send out an alert about the location of someone sleeping rough. Streetlink will then pass on the information to St Petroc’s Assertive Outreach Team so that they find, engage with the person and connect them with support within 24 hours.

Staff from the Council’s Emergency Management Service are continuing to monitor the weather closely and are working closely with a range of partners to ensure that contingency plans can be put in place as required.