A group of MPs has called for the appointment of a “snow supremo” responsible for co-ordinating efforts to avoid snow disruption.
Following a lengthy investigation, the Transport Select Committee found that an individual from the Department for Transport should be charged with overseeing efforts to minimise chaos of the sort seen at the end of 2010.
In a report, the Committee said that further work was required to increase the country’s ability to cope with snow, particularly if winters are becoming less clement.
The Committee also recommended that the Met Office be given an extra £10 million, requested by Transport Secretary Philip Hammond, to help it forecast weather more accurately.
Louise Ellman MP, who chaired the Committee, said: “Given the huge cost of winter weather disruption – some £280 million per day in transport disruption alone – the £10m suggested by Mr Hammond would be a small price to pay to improve the Met Office’s long-range forecasting capability.”
