YP Letters: Down to the nitty-gritty of council spending in Calderdale

Were councils like Calderdale right to cut the number of roads gritted during the recent cold snap?

LIKE many people, I have been dismayed at the way in which Calderdale Council tried to introduce its new winter maintenance policy.

This came with the news that the council had to make essential savings within the highways budget and make the service, particularly gritting, more cost effective.

Obviously they neglected to mention that it was Labour and Liberal Democrats who voted, earlier this year, to slash the budget by £500,000.

Now while they would tell you that this was due to national government cutting funds, which we can all agree has happened, it doesn’t explain why they (over)spent millions on the Piece Hall and the new library. Was it worth it at the cost of dangerous roads being gritted?

Add to that both the aforementioned parties happily voted against cutting councillor numbers while voting to cut the highways budget.

Now 200 grit bins have been ordered, from a company in Northern Ireland and being delivered from Brussels, plus an additional 70 roads added to the “roads to be gritted list”.

So clearly there was extra available in the budget after all, as proven by these additional extras added. Make no mistake, the council did not need to cut the gritting service.