People across Brent have slammed the council for not gritting roads ahead of a snow storm at the weekend.

Brent & Kilburn Times: One grit box on Dollis Hill Lane (Picture: Bernie McGourty)One grit box on Dollis Hill Lane (Picture: Bernie McGourty) (Image: Archant)

Much of the borough was under a blanket of snow on Sunday morning when neighbours took to social media calling out to Brent Council to grit their roads or provide grit bins.

Caroline Sullivan wrote on Facebook: “Never any gritting on Oxgate Gardens and it’s a hill. Phoned about lack of gritting on the road last time it snowed and was told the road was not a priority!”

Alison Hopkins, member of the Dollis Hill Residents Association said: “We are on very, very steep hills here. There was no gritting anywhere. The earliest was at 8pm on Sunday night and only one grit box for the whole area. The stupid thing is three weeks ago they gritted my road when there wasn’t a snow forecast.”

Cllr Jumbo Chan used Twitter to appeal to Transport for London writing: “Would it be possible to lay down some grit on the steps at the Willesden Junction Harrow Road entrance/exit, @TfL? I noticed some of my particularly elderly #KensalGreen residents struggle with going up and down the steep icy steps.”

Brent Council said all of its gritters were out last week and would continue to “keep the borough moving during the cold snap”.

However it said it is prioritising “red and orange routes” such as Cricklewood Broadway, Neasden Underpass and Shoot Up Hill in Kilburn.

Currently the council has around 840 tonnes of grit in stock, also known as rock salt, to be used during icy or freezing conditions and has filled more than 300 yellow grit bins around the borough so that residents and businesses can grit icy or hazardous pavements themselves when required.

Cllr Eleanor Southwood, Brent Council’s lead member for the environment, added: “Our gritting teams are working hard to keep all major routes and pathways free, but this is of course a challenge given the resources available to councils and the length of time for which gritting does an effective job.

“We are also urging people to look out for and assist vulnerable neighbours by clearing snow or ice on the pavement outside homes and to put down salt at night, and work together as a community to deal with whatever the weather brings us.”

A spokesman for TfL said they had a process in place to grit all their stations and would be double checking them throughout the icy weather.