Gritting cuts are to be reversed after snowfall caused problems on Somerset’s roads, it has been announced this week.
Somerset County Council initially made the cuts last autumn, saying it did not have the money to grit as many routes as previously – which also included reducing the routes gritted in the Burnham-On-Sea and Highbridge area.
County Councillor Mike Rigby said the savings were a “false economy” but council leader David Fothergill denied he had made a u-turn on the plan.
The council will be using £500,000 to offset gritting costs which will come into effect from April onwards.
After two periods of snowfall earlier in the year, including in Burnham-On-Sea on January 31st and February 1st, as pictured here, the roads on routes that would have previously been gritted were described by commuters as “treacherous”.
Mr Rigby added: “Its an embarrassing u-turn on a short sighted decision that should never have been taken”.
When asked by BBC Somerset if the U-turn was embarrassing, David Fothergill, the Conservative leader of Somerset County Council said “not at all”. He added: “This is not the first reversal of a decision we’ve made.”
