NEW figures revealed today show Kirklees Council went 50% over budget dealing with this year’s heavy snow.

Mark Dobson, who was in charge of the council’s gritting effort this winter, praised workers for the way they dealt with the bad weather, which he said was the worst for 13 years.

Kirklees spent £2.5m on gritting, salt bins and snow ploughing this year, well above the budget of £1.7m.

Mr Dobson said the council had reserved funds to deal with the over-spend. He said: “We have a contingency fund within the Highways Service but it’s not enough to cover the £800,000 so the council’s central budget will cover the cost.

“This is the first time in five years that we’ve spent significantly more than we budgeted for.”

In 2006/07 the council put aside £1.56m for winter maintenance and ended up spending only £1.3m. The following year Kirklees budgeted for £1.78m and spent £1.4m.

Mr Dobson, the council’s unit manager for street care, said there may be a slight increase in the winter maintenance budget for 2009/10. He said: “It might go up a little bit for inflation.”

Mr Dobson was in charge of 150 staff during the snow, which hit Kirklees in December, January and February.

He said: “I can’t remember that depth of snow since 1996 and I think we dealt with it very well.

“We had one or two areas of concern which was down to the snow and the narrowness of rural roads. The Colne Valley got hit particularly badly but we got praise for the way we dealt with things in Holme Valley, so it’s swings and roundabouts.”

Huddersfield was hit by snow several times this winter, including a prolonged downfall from February 1 to February 3.

Kirklees staff used more than 3,000 tonnes of salt during those three days, concentrating on 625 miles of priority routes. Each Kirklees-wide grit treatment uses up about 300 tonnes and costs £12,000.

Around 100 refuse collectors were drafted in to clear drives, roads and car parks near schools while street sweepers gritted town centres by hand.