Gritting Pendle's icy roads is proving to be a real challenge says local MP, Gordon Prentice.

Speaking from his constituency office in Nelson today the MP said many of the town's roads are like skating rinks.

"From Barnoldswick, where I live, right through to Colne and to Nelson, people have been struggling with pavements of sheet ice and roads which are really hazardous. We need grit on our roads fast."

Yesterday (5 December) the MP asked Ged Fitzgerald, the Chief Executive of Lancashire County Council, for an update.

The Chief Executive told the MP: "As per the schedule, all precautionary routes were gritted at 7pm on Monday, overnight and again at 2pm on Tuesday. Gritting also took place at 7pm on Tuesday and also 1.30am overnight. Gritting again took place on Wednesday at 7pm and also overnight. I am advised that we had problems accessing some roads due to weight restrictions or where it was not possible to turn the machines around. I have asked for this to be looked at in terms of any viable alternative methods for such places. On Tuesday, 3 response teams were diverted from other duties to refill grit bins and several loads were delivered to Pendle’s depot to be used by PBC staff on town centre footpaths. 4 teams were deployed on Thursday and 3 today. An agency team is working refilling bins tomorrow. Clearly, the grit in the yellow bins is frequently used up for individual driveways rather than estate roads."

Note to editors: The statement of our policy and service standards on winter maintenance is set out below. This sets out the hierarchy of deployment of the gritters.

The County Council, as highway authority, is under a legal duty to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that safe passage along a highway is not endangered by ice and snow. It is the County Council's Policy to provide a winter service which, as far as is practicable, will permit the safe movement of traffic on priority roads at all times and will keep to a minimum delays and accidents in which ice or snow is a contributory factor. However, it is generally accepted that it is uneconomic, unjustifiable and indeed simply impossible to treat the whole highway network when undertaking planned winter gritting. It is therefore necessary to clearly identify the priority roads what will receive preferential treatment for gritting and snow clearing.

The criteria for this prioritisation for roads is as follows: County Motorways (eg M65 Junction 10-14) All Principal "A" Roads All "B" Roads Other Roads – between or through large centres of population - serving hospitals, ambulance and fire stations - leading to main centres of employment and on important commuter routes - leading to important industrial and military establishments - single access to villages Allowance has been made for the obvious geographical and topographical differences in Lancashire in terms of climate and altitude, resulting in the East Lancashire districts receiving an increased level of coverage ("A" roads plus 35% of the remaining network) compared with the flatter districts in West and South Lancashire ("A" roads plus 17.5% of the remaining network).

Notwithstanding this differential, it should be clearly understood that the majority of the highway network will not receive the winter service and moreover, housing estate roads and minor roads without appreciable gradients have been specifically and intentionally excluded. However, during periods of severe weather, the service may be extended to non-priority roads (secondary routes) but only during hours of daylight and after all the higher priority roads are clear. In no circumstances will private roads or unadopted streets (including s38 highways) receive any winter services.

The winter service in Pendle was reviewed in 2007 and changes were made to the precautionary gritting routes. Twenty seven streets were removed from the precautionary gritting routes, mainly because of vehicle access problems, and 9 streets were added, resulting in a net reduction of 2.7 km. The total treated length on the precautionary routes is 200 km, comprising 45 km of A roads and 155 km (36%) of other roads which exceeds the target figure of 35%.

Rock Salt The County Council uses rock salt as the de-icing agent on highways. Rock salt has to be used responsibly because not only is it an expensive material, it also comes form a non-renewable source and can have an adverse effect on the environment by damaging vegetation for instance. Salt works by lowering the freezing point of water (to about -9 deg C) and in order to complete the de-icing process, the movement of the salt on the road surface by the action of passing traffic is essential. Therefore in conditions where traffic volumes are light, roads can remain icy for some time after the gritter has spread salt. Furthermore, in snow conditions the salt will only be effective where the depth of snow is less than 40 mm and traffic can move the salt around.