There has been a lot of talk (both nationally and locally here in Salford) of gritting policy, or the lack thereof. It seems the official word in Salford is that primary routes are gritted, but other roads/streets and pavements are not. Salford Council justify their gritting policy by telling residents that “900 tonnes of grit have been used to date” and that the priority is for main highways and bus routes to be cleared.

The advice (for those whose vehicles are stranded on their streets, like ours) is to “try to purchase grit from your local garden centre” – something I would be perfectly willing to do, assuming I could get my car out. Of course, if I could, I wouldn’t need the grit anyway!

So, the council justify this failure to grit the streets by trumpeting the fact they are gritting bus routes. Really? I don’t agree. Liverpool Street in Langworthy has not been gritted, and it’s a bus route – therefore either it’s been forgotten, or the council is not exactly telling the truth.

Lastly, I’m going to suggest something outrageous. The council did not need to grit.

OK, I warned you. Actually, it’s true. They could have plowed the snow on the “primary routes”, rather than gritted. This would have cleared the snow and the resulting heavy traffic would have kept the roads clear, thus, the grit could have been used on streets and pavements.

Of course, one thing should be considered. By the time the snow has reached an inch or two, it’s too late to grit – this should have been done before the heavy snowfall (assuming it was predicted and environmental services were on the ball enough to have access to such information in place). Any grit put down after the heavy snowfall would have been a waste of time and resources – it would simply have no effect.

Salford Council are not alone (for once) with their membership of the grit mis-management club, they are joined by councils up and down the country, like Bury Council – who failed to grit Thatch Leach Lane in Whitefield, a major bus route servicing a large proportion of the town.

Listen up Salford (and Bury) Council. Think! Safety first. Government guidance may tell you to save your grit for “primary routes” and forget everywhere else – but you have a duty to protect your residents. Please do so in future.