By Natasha Young

Preston New Road in Southport during the height of the snowy conditions.

Sefton Council cabinet members will decide whether changes should be made to Sefton's winter service policy this week, after last month's extreme weather sparked chaos across the borough.

An interim report on how Sefton Council responded to the “most severe weather experienced in Sefton for many years” will be discussed at both the cabinet member for technical services and the cabinet meetings being held today and tomorrow (January 26 and 27, 2011), and members will consider a list of possible immediate short-term actions to improve the policy.

The local authority was criticised by residents and councillors over its actions following the heavy snowfall on December 17, 2010 and the freezing temperatures that followed.

The proposed list of actions include buying six extra snow plough blades for highway gritting vehicles, enhancing equipment to monitor grit distibution and snow plough deployment, purchasing and filling more grit bins and using gritting contractor staff to undertake manual gritting at grit bin locations.

Using additional resources for snow and ice removal during extreme weath is also one of the options.

Meanwhile, a possible longer term action to be considered is to have an extra 500 tonnes of salt to store as an extra supply for use in extremely severe conditions.

What do you think? Let Natasha Young know by calling her on 01704 392406 or email david.raven@champnews.com