Policy Research Media Morhamburn

Looking out of the window of our plane as it landed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport ten days ago I spotted some heavy duty snow clearing machines. The size of bendy buses, I gave up counting after about ten of them.

With an eye for irrelevant details, I spotted that these vast snow machines had red flashing lights instead of the orange of the other airport vehicles. Armed with this important nugget of information, I then realised that actually these vast creatures that mixed ploughs with blowers and de-icer sprayers were simply the vanguard of a posse of smaller snow blowers, ploughs and things with revolving loo brushes on the front of them – all with the single purpose of keeping the airport clear of snow.

All of which was made more impressive by the fact that not a single flake of the stuff had fallen.

I can also vouch for the fact that it works. On a previous trip through that airport we landed in heavy snow and left on time in heavy snow, the only delays being caused to other flights which had been delayed leaving other airports.

Today every airport in Scotland and most in England are affected by snow. The effect on travellers and the economy is huge. The opportunity cost of the wasted hours of people not being able to travel, work or shop could easily be calculated into millions of pounds.

The loss to the airlines of people deciding next time they’ll take the train, even if that is better for the environment, will never be known.

Meanwhile, some Scottish roads are cleared and fine while others offer as many opportunities for car tobogganing as they do safe passage. And it’s just as likely that the impassable road will be a major trunk road managed by a national agency-appointed roads company as a local one looked after by the council.

None of this is very good for our reputation as a modern, high technology nation that lives comfortably with the mix of heather (and often snow) covered mountains alongside an infrastructure that can match the skills of its people.

As Scotland braces itself for serious and deep cuts to public services in the coming year, and companies continue to keep their spending tightly limited, nobody would put any money on significant new investment in snow clearing equipment and staff for our roads and airports.

Which is short-sighted. 

Perhaps it is time for a nation that spends so much time talking about the weather to also start thinking about it as a strategic issue.

 [The views expressed by Morhamburn people in their blogs are theirs and theirs alone. they do not represent the thoughts of the company as a whole or our clients. If you have a comment to make on any blog, please email info@morhamburn.com and we’ll put the printable ones up on the website]