Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

BBC Wiltshire is taking an interest in the grit bin farce.

Will the BBC get the Conservatives at County Hall to step off of the slippery slope they are on? It would be nice if they could.

After the snow earlier this year, many parish councils in Wiltshire asked for extra grit bins in order that residents could get to the main roads gritted by WC.

However, the cabinet member decided that there were too many requests and his budget couldn't afford it; after all, these requests have 'only' come from members of the public - the very people that pay a small fortune in council tax.

In his wisdom, he decreed that each area board could have a 10% increase in the number of grit bins already in their area. Hence, Salisbury (which already has about sixty bins - why?) has been allocated six, whilst Trowbridge (which has always been very restrained with its requests) has been told it can have only one! By the way, and just to rub salt into the wound (please excuse the pun), Salisbury hasn't actually asked for any new bins!! As someone said to me 'The lunatics have taken over the asylum'.

So, if we have another bad winter and you live on Paxcroft Mead and find yourself helplessly sliding down an icy road (or unable to get up an ice covered slope) please remember what has led to the situation.

Now that the BBC has taken an interest it might be possible to shame the WC administration into a U turn, but I won't hold my breath.