HYNDBURN Council has bought 30 tons of extra grit to help ‘top up’ the county council service this winter.

Though the grit is ordinarily funded by the county, Hyndburn Council spent £790 on the project in case of another bad winter.

Leader Coun Peter Britcliffe said the borough’s finances are in good enough shape to afford to ‘top up’ grit bins, particularly in Hyndburn’s hilly areas.

He said: “It was a very bad situation last winter and we do not want the same debacle this year.

“We’ve been working closely with LCC and they are to provide some extra grit bins in strategic locations we have suggested.

“The situation last year was the first really bad winter in 25 years, but with global warming, the same thing could happen again.

We hope that we don’t need the extra grit but it is best to be prepared.

In higher, hillier parts of the borough like Baxenden, people were slipping all over the place.

“Grit bins in these areas were empty for weeks. I stress though that they are for residential streets, and not personal driveways and paths.”

The announcement that the borough would be helping to pay for more grit was made as part of a financial review at Hyndburn’s cabinet meeting.

It comes as part of a new scheme from Lancashire County Council to increase partnership work with districts.

Council leader Peter Britcliffe said they were looking at a potential under-spend of £540,000 which put them in a “strong position” to make extra spending plans.

Opposition leader Miles Parkinson, said: “We fully agree the service needs to be topped up and put it in our own shadow budget last year.

And we whole-heartedly welcome the controlling group taking on this policy.”