ESSEX County Council has spent 80 per cent of its gritting budget for 2010/11.

Since October, 12,000 tonnes of salt has been spread across the county’s roads.

Essex County Council has just 5,700 tonnes left in its depots, but is due to double the figure so its has 8,000 tonnes – the minimum recommended amount to cover six days of gritting.

Norman Hume, councillor responsible for highways and transportation, has admitted the authority will exceed its budget unless snow and ice stay away in January and February.

Mr Hume said: “We are in a reasonable position, but we have used more grit than expected and about 80 per cent of the budget.

“We have to hope January, February and March give us some relief otherwise we will have to overspend.

“Obviously we will have to dig into reserves if necessary as our priority is to keep roads open. That is our priority and we are very clear about that.”

Mr Hume said if snow and freezing temperatures in winter continue Essex County Council will have to rethink its budget.

In 2009/10, 25,000 tonnes of saltwas used on the county’s roads, which was almost double the average amount of 13,000 tonnes used over the previous few years.

In response to claims some roads had not been gritted Mr Hume said: “Our gritters go out depending on conditions so the manager will make a decision based on forecasts and our weather stations reports.

“They will be on the road three times a day and every road that is salted will be salted three times.

“But there is no guarantee everything will be normal, these are exceptional times.”

He said one of the biggest problems is the time lapse after gritting because traffic needs to go over the salt mix to make it work .

Essex County Council’s policy in particularly bad weather is to focus on a precautionary network, which includes routes used by four or more buses, A-roads and important access roads, such as to hospitals.

It is also using rock salt treated with molasses, which although costs £10 per tonne more means 20 to 30 per cent less has to be used because the salt sticks to the road better than the traditional mix.