Notwithstanding that Bolton Council will only accept credit and will never accept criticism or take the blame, Cllr Nick Peel’s claims about gritting were very interesting. (“Slush hour” December 3) Cllr Peel stated that the level of gritting this year has been the same as last year and the year before.

Did he and Bolton Council not notice what was also mentioned in the same The Bolton News article — that Boston has seen a number of mild winters recently, but Tuesday morning’s snowfall was the heaviest for several years.

Surely, the heaviest snowfall for years should have prompted the idea that an increased use in the number of gritters might be warranted, including possibly getting out the “stand-by service". To simply use the same level and number of gritters as is used in previously mild winters is naïve, as it cannot possibly be enough. Responsibility for such short-sightedness can only be laid at the council’s door.

To keep in line with the council’s main interest and targets, is the council forgetting that priority must at all times be given to cycle lanes, that they should be given priority gritting and be cleared, first and foremost?

Tony Tunnah, Horwich