A NORTH-EAST mayor may visit Scandinavia for advice on coping with heavy snow as local authorities admit they are rationing road salt to cope with the conditions.

Mayor of Middlesbrough Ray Mallon said he intended to draw up a blueprint to help the town deal with future freezes. He said this could involve a fact-finding mission to snowy nations overseas.

The announcement came as councils across the North- East and North Yorkshire reported shortages of salt – although none have yet run out.

Mr Mallon called for an urgent scrutiny panel investigation at Middlesbrough Council’s executive meeting yesterday.

“I think it would be a good idea to look further afield at how other countries cope,” he said. “Sweden is buried in snow. We get this and we don’t grind to a halt, but we certainly have to pause.

“It is not about having a free trip abroad, but there will be someone, somewhere in Scandinavia, that is doing something.”

Meanwhile, North Yorkshire County Council said it was having to be prudent to conserve its stocks of grit.

Routine salting is being restricted to priority routes.

Durham County Council said it was also closely monitoring its supplies.

Terry Collins, the director of neighbourhood services, said: “As far as gritting the roads is concerned, we have been able to grit both priority one and two routes and we currently have no plans for that to change, although we are continuing to closely monitor the situation.”

Darlington Borough Council said its staff were working round the clock to keep roads open. “Far from reducing the number of routes they are gritting, staff are responding as well as they can to requests for places not on the usual gritting routes to be cleared, such as outside schools and doctors’ surgeries,” a spokeswoman said.

“We have used 3,800 tonnes of grit so far this winter, which is more than normal.

Normally we would use about 5,000 tonnes throughout the season. However, we have no concerns about running out of grit. We have 2,000 tonnes on order.”

Officials say salt deliveries to councils in the region are taking place on a priority basis. Homebase, in Bishop Auckland, had also run out yesterday.

The store said it did not know when fresh supplies would be delivered.

Many stores had also run out of salt as people try to keep their paths and drives clear.

B&Q, at Morton Park, in Darlington, said yesterday that its supplies had run out.

“We have been waiting for a delivery, but the councils get first refusal,” a member of staff said.

Gritting in the region

Darlington: Fresh deliveries of salt this week
Durham: Still gritting priority one and two routes but “monitoring situation”
Hartlepool: No problems
Middlesbrough: Only gritting priority routes
North Yorkshire: Shortages mean only priority roads being gritted
Redcar & Cleveland: No problems
Stockton: Just 400 tonnes in stock but receiving regular deliveries Sunderland: Enough for eight days