The Winter Information Centre (WIC) brings together information from a range of council services, and those of our partners, so residents can use www.sutton.gov.uk/winter as a place to find out about any disruption, look up health advice and report any problems.

Parents can find out if the borough’s schools are open or closed; there are links to travel advice for the buses, trains, tubes and roads; advice on how to stay warm and healthy, access to five day weather reports for the area; and information about Sutton’s gritting programme including the locations of gritting routes and bins.

Sutton is already leading the way for collaborative winter planning having provided 4,200 residents with free grit to use themselves though our Free Gritting Scheme.

Ruth Dombey, Leader of Sutton Council, said:

“Winter can be a very difficult time for people when the temperature drops so we wanted to make their lives easier by creating one place to find important information. By providing regular updates through the Winter Information Centre and social media we can help our residents to make informed decisions about what action to take to cope with cold weather disruption. We have also taken extra measures to support our vulnerable residents by providing grants for warm homes, making extra checks on their wellbeing and ensuring our meals on wheels vans are prepared for the cold weather. This, along with other measures such as providing free grit to 4,200 residents and filling all of our 450 bins, means that Sutton is better prepared for winter than ever before.”

In addition to gritting, Sutton is taking extra care to support its elderly and vulnerable residents by offering grants and support through its Warm Homes scheme, Meals on Wheels and a new homeless support service. The mobile hot meals service has never missed the delivery of a hot meal and Sutton Council is doing its best to keep the record intact by fitting 5 out of the 10 Meals on Wheels vans with winter tyres and having access to 4 by 4 vehicles on standby in case of the worst.

Meals on Wheels staff and other council outreach workers will also be extra vigilant in making sure the home of elderly and other vulnerable people are warm and that they have enough information and provisions to look after themselves.