Fresh snow falls in Herefordshire (From Hereford Times)

Fresh snow falls in Herefordshire

8:57am Tuesday 22nd January 2013 in News By Paul Rogers

FRESH snow has fallen in Herefordshire today, but the majority of schools remain open.

So far, Barrs Court Special School in Hereford and Michaelchurch Escley Primary School have confirmed that they are closed as more snow fell overnight.

You can view all school closures here. 

Most of the main roads in the county are fine to drive on, but there have been reports that the A480 at Credenhill was proving to be hazardous earlier this morning.

Live traffic updates can be viewed here. 

Herefordshire Council have also confirmed that refuse and recycling crews are collecting in the county today.

So far, gritters have been out and about on the roads 172 times since the early hours of Friday morning, with 861 tonnes of salt used and snow ploughs deployed.

The snowfall, together with the recent flooding, has led to a lot of road damage across the county.

The council have said that they are receiving an average of 50 reports of highway defects a day, more than double the rate in January last year.

Defects have so far been found at 223 locations in the last month alone, with a system in place to categorise all potholes.

"I am pleased that our services rose to the occasion over the weekend and would like to thank the teams for working 24/7 in response to these severe winter conditions," said Councillor Graham Powell, cabinet member for infrastructure and highways.

"We are doing our best to keep on top of the growing number of repairs that need to be done and I am looking at ways of boosting our road maintenance programme to try and improve the infrastructure as this will reduce the likelihood of further defects.

"The immediate safety of the travelling public remains our top priority and we will do all we can to carry out the safety repair work required as quickly as possible."