HIGHWAYS teams have been overwhelmed with the snow – but Kirklees Council says it will not invest more in gritting operations.

Gritting on Kirklees roads is costing £12,000 a day – but questions are being raised about whether more should be spent on treating roads.

Overnight, there are just four gritters covering the whole district.

During the day, 31 gritting teams and five tractor ploughs have been on patrol – but they have been worked so hard over the past few days that some grit wagons broke down.

Yet Clr David Sheard, Kirklees Council cabinet member for transport, said no more will be spent on gritting as the fleet is already working flat out.

“We have only got so many vehicles, they can’t be everywhere at once,” he said. “But if you buy more vehicles you are talking about a big cost for a couple of weeks a year.”

However, he said the Labour and Lib Dem cabinet will review gritting procedures.

“We have got a contingency to deal with bad weather and we spend it as we can. At the moment we are following the plans of previous members,” he said.

“We agree that the priority is to keep main roads open, but that doesn’t help people stuck in their houses. We need to look at priorities and have a careful look at where we are going. Gritting is carried out first on ‘strategic’ roads, such as major link routes.

Usually, gritters quickly move on to ‘priority’ routes, which include A roads, B roads, steep roads and through roads on estates.

But the weather has been so bad that teams have not made it off strategic routes since Sunday.

This means around 1,000km of the 1,900km of roads in Kirklees have not been treated, around 60% of the Kirklees road network.

Mark Dobson, unit manager for streetcare at Kirklees Council, said his teams have been working hard just to keep major routes open.

“We have struggled on many of the roads. It is the sheer weight of the snow.”

Around 1,000 tonnes of grit a day have been used. Gritting started on priority routes yesterday morning and most were clear by the end of the day. A full grit was carried out overnight and gritting of side streets is expected to start today.

Ten teams are out gritting town centre paths by hand this morning.

However, Mr Dobson said having more teams on overnight would not have helped clear roads.

“They wouldn’t be effective with falling snow. Traffic movement plays a big part in helping the salt melt the snow. It would also cost us a fortune. Drivers need to have an 11-hour break between shifts. We would need to have another third on top of our workforce.”

Some roads still remained closed yesterday, including cross-Pennine routes the A62 Manchester Road, A640 New Hey Road, A6024 Woodhead Road and the A635 Greenfield Road.

Part of the A629 Halifax Road was also closed where it joined the ring road at Castlegate because of ice.

A lorry caused problems when it became stuck at the junction at 2.45am yesterday blocking access to the ring road.

Kirklees Council gritting teams came to free the lorry, which remained stranded until around 10am.

A tanker became stuck on an icy slope at Morley Lane in Milnsbridge at around 7.45am yesterday. It was freed by gritting teams.

Bus passengers also faced chaos as services ground to a halt in Huddersfield.

Sheet ice in the town centre and at Huddersfield Bus Station meant all services were cancelled early yesterday morning.

Later in the day, buses did start to run on some routes. Buses to Holmfirth terminated there and did not go on to areas such as Hepworth, Parkhead and Netherthong.

Buses to Marsden did not continue on to Wilberlee and Manchester. Buses from Halifax to Huddersfield terminated at Elland.

Lisa Cartman-Kenny, spokeswoman for bus operator First, said: “Roads had not been sufficiently gritted overnight and Huddersfield turned into a skating rink.

“We have to think of the safety of passengers and our staff and pull services on some key routes.”

However, frustrated passengers complained about a lack of information from staff at the bus station.

Jenny Wilson, from Netherthong, said: “I was waiting to get home and we have just not been told anything. Nobody has been out telling us what we can do. The Metro Travel Centre did not seem to know much, other than what they were being told by individual drivers.“Their communication could have been better even though it is a difficult situation.”

David Lawson, of Newsome, was unable to get to work. He said: “I know the roads are bad. But we have just waited here and heard nothing. It’s ridiculous.”