• NOW that the snow has gone one has to ask the question whether the gritting effort was worth the money?

Camden has four small gritters. Each one has a capacity of three tonnes of grit before it has to return to the depot. The policy is to grit the main roads first and leave the side roads until later.

With the snowfall that came with the Beast from the East, the gritting team were completely overloaded. The borough looked like the French Alps. Everyone was sliding all over the place but got there in the end.

The policy of gritting the main roads is ludicrous because the traffic invariably keeps these clear. If any gritting should be done it is on the hills and side roads.

Camden would be better off having a small rapid response team for the steep roads, doubling the number of grit bins and asking people to be neighbourly and grit their own roads.

It is important to keep the buses moving and each bus should carry a bag of grit in case it gets into a skid. On two occasions I have rescued stranded buses. It only take a sprinkling of grit to get them moving again.

The moment the grit went down all the snow melted. We all trod the grit into our houses. Was it all worth the effort?

Camden has a socialist tradition that everyone relied on the council. But in times like these it is neighbourliness not the state that makes the difference.

CLLR JONNY BUCKNELL
Conservative, Belsize ward