With blizzards forecast for tomorrow, those responsible for keeping Britain – and Bradford – moving are bracing themselves.

Bradford has always been a community-minded city and come tomorrow, when the worst of the winter weather is set to arrive, teams of snow wardens will be armed with their snow shovels ready to help clear pathways and streets.

Yasser Taj, a schoolteacher from West Bowling, is among dozens of people across Bradford district who volunteered to be snow wardens during the winter of 2011.

As chairman of Parkside Residents Association, Yasser took on the mantle to help his community. He says helping to grit his local cul-de-sacs and side streets with the Council supplied grit they’ve had on stand-by for a month alleviates the need for the gritters to struggle into places they find difficult to reach.

“The Council did a survey and found that there were areas that weren’t getting gritted because on the estates you have several cul-de-sacs which the trucks don’t drive through, but there are still people who have difficulty getting out,” explains Yasser.

He says it can be particularly difficult for the elderly residents who are making use of the community facilities within their area.

Yasser, along with the ‘Parkside snow team’ comprising five or six residents from the young to the more mature, are now on stand-by ready to spring into action during the impending snowfalls.

“We have our grit and our shovels and our yellow vests and hopefully we will manage as best we can. The Council do a very good job, but you cannot expect them to do every single street all the time, so as long as the main roads get done the local residents will take care of the cul-de-sacs and the little bits here and there,” says Yasser.

The Parkside team aren’t the only ones who will be helping to keep communities on the move. Offenders on Community Payback Orders are also at the ready to clear footpaths and help with gritting.

As part of their court orders for what are deemed low level offences, such as burglary and fraud, the offenders taking part in the West Yorkshire Probation Trust’s Community Payback teams may also be re-directed from other community-based work to provide a rapid response to any urgent need for local communities.

“This is a great way for offenders to repay local communities for the crimes they have committed,” says Karen Townend, head of Community Payback.

“Clearing snow is physically demanding and time-consuming work. Without it, roads, pavements and car parks can become unsafe.

“We are pleased to utilise the offenders’ Community Payback hours to help local people in this way, as and when the need arises.”

Coun Andrew Thornton, Bradford Council’s Executive Member for Environment, Sport and Sustainability, explains the council’s winter maintenance staff are already well prepared. “We get weather forecasts from the Met Office every day and also gather data from sensor sites around the district every day so we can adapt to local conditions.”

The Council has a fleet of around 26 gritting wagons based in five depots – Wakefield Road, Bradford, Queensbury, Denholme, Stockbridge, Keighley and Ilkley – which will be treating around 70 per cent of the road network including major and minor routes.

“We also track our gritting wagons with global positioning satellites so we can gather information about which parts of the network have been gritted and when,” says Coun Thornton.

“Because this winter has been relatively mild so far, we still have plenty of salt stocks but we will be concentrating on the primary routes to try and keep traffic flowing around the district.”

Assuringly, Bradford’s salt stocks look buoyant as the Council has only used 13 per cent of the 30,000 tonnes it had at the start of the year.

In a week of severe snow it is estimated between 3.5 and 4,000 tonnes will be used, so the council is more than prepared for what lies ahead.

According to a Met Office spokesman, between 10cms and 15cms of snow could fall in some parts of the country, including Bradford. It is expected to arrive tomorrow morning when commuters are making their way to work.

Commuters are also minded to take heed of the usual cautionary warning not to travel in bad weather unless necessary.

For details and advice, consult Bradford Council's website bradford.gov.uk, or visit facebook.com/bradfordmdc or twitter.com/bradfordalerts for the latest information.