Stay safe during the cold weather

The Met Office has issued weather warnings across England and Wales, with London and the South East under a yellow alert for snow and ice from Saturday afternoon to Monday morning.

On this page, you will find helpful information on how the council keeps the borough’s roads safe. There is also information on keeping yourself and others safe during the cold weather.

We will update this page with emerging developments, including service disruption to our frontline services.

Keeping the roads safe and moving:

Our dedicated crews are proactively gritting roads, bus routes, and minor roads from 6 p.m. today (Friday, January 3, 2025) to ensure local traffic can move safely.

Our gritters are on standby and will take appropriate action following the latest weather forecasts, ensuring the safety of our residents.

Please find out more about our gritting routes.

If you would like to know more about how we manage our roads during extreme weather, please read our Winter Service Plan. 

Rough sleepers:

With the temperature forecast to drop below freezing, we have implemented the Severe Weather Extreme Protocol (SWEP) to ensure that anyone sleeping rough on the streets can access help and support. 

During the day, support for rough sleepers can access support from the Welcome Centre in Ilford, where anyone sleeping rough will be assessed and referred if applicable.  If you see someone sleeping rough, they should be referred and assessed at the Welcome Centre, which can be contacted at 0208 514 3283 or via e-mail.

If you have an immediate concern for someone's health or welfare, call emergency services at 999. 

If you are sleeping rough or know someone is sleeping rough, please contact streetlink online or via 0300 500 0914. This referral will be reported to our rough sleeping and outreach team, who will carry out a visit either the same day or the next day. 

Find out more about how to support rough sleepers.

Community Living Rooms:

Redbridge Council, in partnership with various organisations in the borough, has established a network of Community Living Rooms, which are warm and welcoming places for residents to use.

You are invited to visit any places listed during their opening times.

Tips to keep you and your family warm:

Follow these tips to keep you, your family and those around you warm and well in extremely cold weather:

• Draw your curtains at dusk and keep your doors closed to block out draughts.
• Drink regular hot drinks and, if possible, eat at least one hot meal a day. Eating regularly helps keep energy levels up during winter.
• Wear several light layers of warm clothes (rather than one chunky layer).
• Keep as active in your home as possible.
• Wrap up warm and wear shoes with a good grip if you need to go outside on cold days.
• If you have reduced mobility, are 65 or over, or have a health condition such as heart or lung disease, you should heat your home to at least 18c. If you can, keep your bedroom at this temperature all night and wear enough clothes to stay warm.
• If you're under 65 and healthy and active, you can safely have your house cooler than 18c if you're comfortable.
• Listen to the weather forecast bulletins on the radio and TV regularly to keep updated with the weather. Severe weather warnings are issued on the Met Office website, through the Met Office X feed, or you can ring the Weather Desk on 0870 900 0100.

Travel carefully in icy weather:

• Icy pavements and roads can be extremely slippery. Take extra care if you go out and wear boots or shoes with good sole grip. The Met Office advises putting grit or cat litter on paths and driveways to lessen the risk of slipping.
• Bear in mind that black ice on pavements or roads might not be visible, and snow may turn to ice and become slippery.

Look in on vulnerable neighbours and relatives:

• Check up on friends, relatives and neighbours who may be more vulnerable to cold weather. Cold weather is hazardous for older people or people with serious illnesses.
• People with heart or respiratory (breathing) problems may have worse symptoms during a cold spell and for several days (up to four weeks) after temperatures return to normal.

Frozen lakes:

The Royal Life Saving Society UK has devised these safety tips about the dangers of frozen waters.

When water is frozen, and the cold weather sets in, these are a few safety tips to take note of:

• Teach children not to walk on frozen lakes, ponds, canals and reservoirs under any circumstances. Children and pets are particularly at risk when tempted to play on the ice formed on open water during cold weather.
• When near frozen water, pets should be kept on leads, and owners should refrain from throwing objects onto the ice for them to retrieve.
• Bystanders should shout reassurance to casualties without endangering themselves. To make sure help is on the way, call the emergency services on 999 or 112.
• Do not walk or climb onto the ice to attempt a rescue, and certainly don’t get into the water; you may become the next casualty.
• If someone can’t climb out of the water, it is not advisable, as many people think, to move about in the water to keep warm while waiting for help. Instead, they should conserve their energy by keeping as still as possible.

If you see someone fall through the ice:

• Shout for assistance; get help by phoning the emergency services (call 999 or 112).
• Do not walk or climb onto the ice to attempt a rescue.
• Shout to the casualty to ‘keep still’ and offer reassurance to keep them calm.
• Try to reach them from the bank using a rope, pole, tree branch, clothing tied together, or anything else that can extend your reach.
• When reaching from the bank, lie down to avoid being pulled onto the ice – this spreads your weight more evenly.
• If you cannot reach them, slide something that floats, such as a plastic bottle or football, across the ice for them to stay afloat while help is on the way.
• If the casualty is too far away, do not attempt to rescue them. Wait for the emergency services while calming and reassuring the casualty.