SNOW and ice arrive almost every year and with today's technology it does seem surprising that each winter our roads become impassable.

Traffic grinds to a halt and hospitals report a big increase in people with sprains and fractures after falling on slippery pavements.

While it is unreasonable for anyone to think that heavy snowfalls can be made to somehow disappear instantly the public does expect local authorities to make highways safe as soon as is practicable.

Between Christmas and New Year all of East Lancashire experienced snow and and low temperatures but it was noticeable that motorways and major roads were quickly treated to minimise disruption.

In Blackburn and Darwen however problems lingered and chaos is probably not an unreasonable description of a situation that led many readers to write and phone this newspaper complaining about a council service that they believed had failed to do as good a job as it had in past years. The council said it had done all it could to grit and salt and blamed imprecise weather forecasts.

Today however we hear that a council watchdog committee believes the council has given winter gritting a relatively low priority because staff had become used to "mild winters." Rather than just treating "priority routes" the committee is urging a policy "for the safe maintenance of ALL roads in the borough."

Committee chairman Coun John Milburn says: "We appreciated money may be a factor but so is safety."

In the past couple of years Blackburn with Darwen Council has gained national recognition for its progress in some areas like education.

But when it comes to keeping roads and pavements safe in winter the public has given the council a thumbs down.

In future the service must have a higher priority.