Oxfordshire County Council has defended itself against critics of its road-gritting operation. There is no question that it was hamstrung by Government instructions to all local authorities to reduce the amount of gritting to only the ‘A’ routes in order to conserve salt stocks.

How would Oxfordshire have fared without that instruction? No doubt the council’s answer would be “better” but, ultimately, we will never know.

One thing is for sure, across the country as a whole there was not enough grit to maintain a decent operation across all major local routes. It is evident that some local authorities were better prepared than others.

However it is achieved, whether that be at a national level or at a local level, we should ensure that there is a bank of grit stockpiled for the sort of winter we are experiencing now.

Ideally, all roads should have the prospect of at least one gritting during a prolonged cold period after snow.

The heavy snow and prolonged cold may be a once-in-30-year event but that does not mean we cannot have a plan for it. The grit is a one-off purchase. It is not likely to go off however long it is stored. The only additional cost is one of storage, but even that could conceivably be easily absorbed with strategic piles at local authorities across the country.

This has to be arranged at a national level as the last weeks’ events have shown. We cannot have a situation where some authorities are better prepared than others but are penalised because of the national picture.