Icy roads in Berkhamsted are no longer being gritted in an attempt to conserve salt supplies.

Hertfordshire Highways has announced that it will now only treat A and B roads, plus roads that provide access to essential emergency services like hospitals and fire stations.

As a result, the only roads still being salted in Berkhamsted are Chesham Road, Kingshill Way, Kings Road, London Road, Gossoms End, Castle Street, the High Street and the A41.

All other roads will be left untreated.

This has already caused problems across the town. Thomas Coram School was forced to close on Wednesday because Swing Gate Lane had become "extremely dangerous" with "several cars abandoned awkwardly on the hill after failed attempts to get up it".

The cutbacks come after a request from the Department for Transport (DfT) to reduce salt usage by up to 50 per cent due to a continued national salt shortage.

Salt supply allocation across Britain is now being administered by the DfT and salt supplies are being directed to

the areas deemed to be of greatest need.

Stuart Pile, Executive Member for Highways and Transport, said:

"Since the start of the winter we have used over 12,000 tonnes of salt

on Hertfordshire's roads and pavements.

"Hertfordshire currently has

salt in stock and on order, and we hoped we would keep receiving

sufficient salt to treat our entire main route network but, with

conditions worse elsewhere in the country, we welcome the advice from

the DfT, and recognise that those areas will be a priority for

government.

"We need to conserve what we have and use it to best effect

- in the weather conditions when it will be most useful, and on the

roads where there is most traffic.

"This is a challenging time for all road users and highway authorities

and we are reacting to this changing situation and doing what we can to

keep roads open. Should salt supplies increase, we will look to return

to treating our normal main roads. In the meantime we continue to

explore all possibilities for supplementing our normal salt supplies."

A map showing which roads are being gritted across Hertfordshire is available from HertsDirect.

You can also check the salting status of your journey or your road on Salting Routes.

Photograph courtesy of Flickr.