Sidmouth has been warned to be prepared for potentially one of the hardest, coldest winters in eight years.

Last week, some weather forecasters warned that the 2018/19 winter could be cold and as snowy as that of 2010, although there have been conflicting reports from different forecasting sources.

Sidmouth County Councillor Stuart Hughes, who is responsible for highways management and also heads up Sidmouth’s Snow Warden team, has however called on the town’s residents to ensure they’re prepared either way.

In 2010, Cllr Hughes said he spent almost a week sleeping on the newsroom floor at Bay FM, in Exmouth.

He added that, from there, he helped to manage and organise a gritting vehicle to make a circuit of some of the estate roads in and around the Sid Valley helping residents who had been stuck in doors for almost a week.

Cllr Hughes said: “I shouldn’t like this to happen again this year if the worst of the weather should hit us.

“We had a good trial run last year with the two snow events that hit Sidmouth in March when Richard Waring, myself and the other road warden team got out and gritted the additional four miles of local roads around the estates not on the Highways gritted network.”

Cllr Hughes said he helped with the purchase of the state-of-the-art grit spreader with Sidmouth Town Council and it had been worth its weight in gold.

He added they had now replenished their rock salt grit stocks ready for whatever was thrown at them.

Arrangement have also been made for all the Sid Valleys Grit Bins to be re-stocked and for two new grit bins to be placed at Windsor Mead, Sidford, and Higher Fortescue, off Fortescue Road.

If anyone has any ideas for additional grit bins or if anyone has noticed that any grit bins have been missed they should report it to Devon County Council by calling 01392 383000 or by contacting Cllr Hughes on 07725 708891.

Visit www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/home for the latest news and updates.