It is never too early to start preparing for snow, especially when you want 16,800 tonnes of salt to deal with it.

It may be the height of summer, with the sun finally sizzling, but Surrey County Council has already laid down its winter contingency plans.

It has stepped up efforts to tackle ice and snow by investing nearly £750,000 made through striking a new deal with contractor May Gurney.

Surrey is ordering 50 per cent more salt this year – 16,800 tonnes compared with 13,000 last year.

It is also trialling new quad bikes to reach rural areas that grit hard-to-reach areas inaccessible to lorries. It will also enlist an army of 15 farmers, with ploughs, to help clear snow across the county.

Surrey county councillor Ian Lake said: “Sun screen and ice cream may be on most people’s minds at the moment, but we’re thinking about snow and ice already as we prepare in advance for any severe weather that winter throws at us.

“Our plans include gritting about 110 more miles of road regularly and trialling special quad bikes to get to areas that large gritters can’t reach, particularly in rural parts of Surrey.

“We’re also making sure there’s plenty of grit available for all Surrey’s other councils to use in town centres and a bigger army of farmers is ready to clear snow-covered roads.”