OVER 91 gritting treatments took place in Bradford over the past winter, with over 19,000 tonnes of salt spread on the district's roads.

At a meeting of Bradford Council's Executive yesterday, members were told details of this year's Winter Service plan for the district.

It reflected the challenges faced by the authority this past winter, when the 'Beast from the East ' winter storm led to the Council overspending on its winter gritting services by £520,000.

Much of the gritting was carried out in the first three months of the year, with heavy snow continuing into March.

A report into the winter gritting service presented to the committee said the extreme weather caused the authority to massively overspend its annual winter service budget of £840,700 - with the final amount spent reaching £1,360,858.

Over the past winter 19,000 tonnes of salt was spread across the district's roads, with the majority of it, 13,215 tonnes, used between January and March.

Around 62 per cent of the district's highway network is on the gritting routes.

At the meeting Richard Geldar, Highways Services Manager, said that the gritting routes were treated 91 times over winter. "Priority One" gritting routes - those considered to be the most in need of gritting, are currently available to view online. Mr Geldar said this year Priority Two routes would be viewable too, adding: "We know quite a lot of people do enquire about our priority two network."

At the meeting Councillor Alex Ross Shaw, executive for Regeneration, Planning and Transport, said: "This was one of the worst winters for the last decade. This report shows the amount of work our staff put in to deal with the more than 700 miles of road in our district, which is 62 per cent if the highways network, which is still the highest in the region."

Bradford Council Leader Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe said: "We have to thank all our staff who were involved in this massive operation which went on for weeks and saw them work round the clock.

"The budget was more than we would have liked, but when emergency situations arise we will always do what we have to to keep the district moving."