We can't salt all roads

Sir - Your readers will understandably be concerned about the condition of local roads in the cold weather.

There is currently a national shortage of salt and the Government has instructed local authorities to conserve supplies which are now strictly administered by a national “Salt Cell”.

The Government will direct national supplies to enable authorities across the country to keep important supply routes open to power stations, hospitals etc. We have had 3,000 tonnes on order, since Christmas, but have only received small amounts of salt to maintain our limited stocks.

We cannot say when our stocks will be replenished as this is under the control of the Salt Cell.

This means that we can treat A & B roads only and many roads, including bus routes will not be salted.

We do not have any other choice given the national shortage of salt.

Your readers should be assured that we are trying to keep our roads as safe as possible with a very limited supply of salt.

Many people are also concerned about the deterioration in our roads over the winter.

We are doing our very best to tackle the backlog and are currently filling a record 800 potholes a week.

The borough council has recently passed a budget which will see £6million allocated to tackling the backlog of years of underinvestment in our roads.