NORFOLK County Council is today reviewing its gritting network after salt ordered for the county began to be diverted by Government to regions in the greatest need of supplies. The Government s decision to invoke the so-called Salt Cell on Wednesday means

NORFOLK County Council is today reviewing its gritting network after salt ordered for the county began to be diverted by Government to regions in the greatest need of supplies.

The Government's decision to invoke the so-called Salt Cell on Wednesday means that daily supplies pre-ordered for Norfolk are now being sent to other counties.

The county council has so far spent �1.2million gritting roads since the cold snap began before Christmas and promised to continue salting 1,900 miles of Norfolk roads this weekend.

But with no idea when further supplies will be received, it is keeping the situation under close review.

A further announcement is likely on Monday.

Councillor Adrian Gunson, Cabinet member for Planning and Transportation, said: "While this is clearly frustrating, I think we have to recognise this is an unprecedented situation and that other parts of the country are in a much worse situation than our own.

"The immediate effects of this are that we need to conserve the stocks that we have as much as possible. One way of doing this is following professional advice in mixing sand with the salt where snow has already settled on the road.

"We are watching matters closely but if this bad weather continues we will soon need to reduce the mileage of the roads we salt.

"I regret this, but the situation is totally out of our hands. We will certainly publicise any changes we have to make, but in the meantime Norfolk motorists should exercise the greatest care possible.