COMMUNICATION problems hampered gritting efforts during two periods of heavy snow, Essex County Council has admitted.

An evaluation report also revealed at least £250,000 is needed to deal with potholes and other road defects, the result of snow which fell before and after Christmas.

The summary of the gritting operation in December and January said district and borough councils were frustrated with a lack of information from the county’s highways department.

The councils confirmed they were unable to answer residents’ questions on gritting as a result of the “poor communication”.

Nick McCullagh, Essex County Council southern area manager for highways, told Castle Point Council’s highways committee: “There are lessons to be learnt on how we keep local authorities informed, so they can pass it on to residents and we will be working on that.”

“Overall, the gritting team did a fantastic job to keep our primary networks clear, sometimes going out three or four times a night.”

The report reveals there were more problems with snowfall in the week before Christmas, because it coincided with contractors going on holiday.

The report concluded the gritters did a good job of keeping the primary networks clear, with the one exception of Canvey.

Long Road, one of the island’s two major access routes alongside Somnes Avenue, was near impassable before Christmas for several days, despite being gritted.

Mr McCullagh said: “Canvey was the only exception.

“We are still looking into why that was. Whether it was problems with where the salt was coming from, or the amount of salt being put down. We don’t know.”

The report also revealed the expense of the gritting effort.

It costs roughly £30,000 a night to send out the county council’s fleet of salt spreaders.

On some occasions this winter, the gritters were sent out four times a night, costing in excess of £120,000.

It will also cost a predicted £250,000 to fix the damage to roads in the south of the county, resulting from the snow and ice.

Mr McCullagh added: “The costs are pretty alarming and the council gets criticised both ways, for not gritting enough and then for not fixing the potholes soon enough.”