Salford’s gritting teams have been working around the clock to keep the city moving.

The authority’s five gritting machines patrol 350 miles of the city’s streets each time they go out, concentrating on keeping the busiest routes open and traffic moving.

In addition, the teams can respond to requests where there may be a serious health and safety concern.

Since the first snow fell on Sunday, more than 750 tonnes of salt have been used by the Salford team.

Dave Seager, acting assistant director of Salford City Council’s environment directorate, said: “Supplies of salt are routinely replenished and we can increase our regular order based on the latest weather forecasts. Salt always works best on icy surface but it is effective on snow when used at the right time.

“We often get calls from people saying they’ve not seen the gritters in the snow but we can assure everybody that the teams are working hard to alleviate the problems from this severe weather, particularly on the primary routes across the city.”

The start of a new year and the opportunity to join the staff at Light Oaks Junior School, where I am a governor, on one of their training days.

It was a very enlightening session on Safeguarding. Every month at scrutiny committee I see the numbers and the scale of the problem. But today it was an opportunity to join with the staff to discuss the range of potential abuse and the signs for which they must be on the look out.