HIGHWAY managers will have the power to grit some of East Lancashire’s estates and pathways this winter - if finances allow.

County council bosses came under fire during the last cold snap when several important routes remained untreated and several schools, especially in Pendle, had to be closed down.

But for 2009-10 the authority has pledged that highways managers in each district, including Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Ribble Valley and Rossendale, will have the power to decide on their own priorities.

County councillor Keith Young, cabinet member for highways and transport, said that this would occur once the gritters had treated the main routes, such as motorways and A roads, which the council has a statutory duty to deal with.

He told a Cabinet Question Time meeting in Padiham: “We had a very difficult time last December, particularly in Pendle, which most people know about.

“We know from looking back that the department was caught napping because we did not have enough notice from the powers that be in the Met Office and did not get the first covering down and that was what caused such distress.

“This year the gritters will be there, and the material will be there, and we have now said that area managers have the freedom to call in any standby equipment, from another part of the county, where there is no snow, to deal with a problem.”

The issue was raised by town councillor Bob Clark at a cabinet questions and answer session held at Padiham FC.

Coun Clark was complaining about the lack of gritting on his estate in Padiham, which he said had left people trapped in their own homes.

He said: “It happens year in and year out with people not being able to get out of their own houses. The gritters do the main bus route and that is it.

“Around the estate we got nothing and people were like prisoners in their own homes. Something needs to be done.”

Highway officials have this year agreed that a larger proportion of the winter maintenance budget should be spent in East Lancashire, which historically has worse weather and in Rossendale and Pendle some of the steepest routes.