Surrey has been hit by heavy snow overnight and our fleet of gritters are out salting roads to help keep them as save as possible.

The severe weather across the country in the last few days and weeks has meant there is now a national shortage of salt. In an effort to preserve our salt stocks we have decided only to salt the county's A roads and routes to hospitals with accident and emergency departments until reserves can be replenished.

We had stockpiled almost 9,000 tonnes of salt for this winter and our fleet of gritters spread around 6,000 tonnes of salt on the county's roads during the Christmas and New Year period to keep motorists moving. Around 4,000 tonnes was used in one week alone during the worst weather to keep people safe. During an average winter Surrey would require just 6,000 tonnes to see it through to spring. But the prolonged bad weather so far this winter has meant the council has less salt reserves than it would like to have at this time of year. The council has orders in place for more salt but the national shortage means deliveries are not guaranteed. The Government Office for the South East is now coordinating the distribution of salt supplies for the region.

The council currently has almost 2,800 tonnes of salt in reserve. A delivery is due this week of 270 tonnes from the national body responsible and there are another 1,260 tonnes on order. The council's contractor Ringway has also ordered 2,000 more tonnes from Spain which is due to be delivered in the next few days.

Ian Lake, Surrey County Council Cabinet Member for Transport, said: "We learnt lessons from last February's extreme weather and stockpiled thousands of tonnes more salt than in previous years. However, the whole country has experienced exceptionally cold weather so far this winter so we need to be sensible with our stocks and concentrate on keeping the busiest roads clear until we can replenish our salt reserves.

"We will be working extremely hard with the resources we have to make Surrey's roads as safe as possible. Our advice to people is to only make journeys you really have to. We will however identify locations that could be isolated by the bad weather and we will do all we can to salt these routes if at all possible."

The council's 1,400 salt bins will continue to be filled but with sand so salt can be reserved for the roads. Our teams are also treating footpaths and pavements in town centres.

Most of the county’s schools are closed today and parents are asked to contact their children's school directly or visit the school's website for the latest information.

Vulnerable people are being looked after during the cold weather with social workers visiting their homes to make sure they are safe and well. Surrey Fire and Rescue has also offered the use of 4x4 vehicles to get social workers to remote locations if needed.

Surrey County Council's Contact Centre is expecting a high number of calls during the bad weather. It is important the most vulnerable can speak to someone so we would ask residents to consult the council's website before calling to see if their question can be answered online.