MORE roads in Bradford are to be gritted this winter after the Council allocated an additional £25,000 to the winter servicing programme and installed a network of weather cameras.

The move follows an outcry last winter when the authority cut its gritting routes from 60 to 50 per cent and warned there would be a further reduction to 42 per cent to save an additional £40,000 in 2017-18.

Instead the Council has reinstated some of the previously axed routes and says it will now grit more than 700 miles of priority roads (62 per cent) including bus routes, highest volume roads and access roads to hospitals and schools.

It says it has made savings through more efficient route design and joint purchasing of weather forecasting services.

Twelve weather cameras situated around the district will feed live pictures of conditions as they develop allowing staff to quickly deploy gritters to areas where they are most needed.

From now until to mid-April, 34 gritters are on standby to spread a stockpile of more than 24,000 tonnes of salt.

The Council’s 550 salt bins have been topped up and are ready for potential cold and icy weather.

On Tuesday, December 5, Bradford Council’s Executive will consider a report on winter highway policies and procedures.

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, portfolio holder for regeneration, planning and transport, said: “We have worked hard to expand the district’s potential gritting network which includes our most heavily used and important routes.

“It’s simply not practical to grit every road in the district, however, with some additional funding, good planning and improved technology, we should be able to cover a larger proportion of our roads this winter.”

The 12 weather cameras are located in High Street, Queensbury; the corner of Cooper Lane and Great Horton Road, Bradford; the junction of Cross Lane and Great Horton Road, Bradford; Wrose Road and Carr Lane corner, Shipley; Cottingley Road and Haworth Road junction in Heaton; Thornton Road and Halifax Road junction in Denholme; Harrogate Road and New Line junction in Greengates; Odsal Top; Dudley Hill; central Baildon, Thornbury roundabout, and Cottingley-Bingley bypass roundabout.

Calderdale Council is also preparing for winter to keep the borough safe and moving if there is ice or snow.

The Council has 18,200 tonnes of salt stored for winter and grits 575km (357 miles) of roads. across Calderdale using a fleet of 15 gritting vehicles.

It is piloting a new policy this year to make sure gritting is carried out where it’s needed most.

Priority is given to Calderdale’s busiest roads, main bus routes and roads which give access to hospitals, emergency services, schools and shopping centres.

People can check to see if their street is included in the gritting route by going to: http://bit.ly/2idkx7s and entering their street name.