NEARLY a fortnight's thaw has brought no respite for Blackburn with Darwen Council from anger and disgust over its gritting performance when snow and ice covered roads and footpaths for nearly a week before and after the New Year.

Nor should it -- when it is thoroughly shown up by the superior sense of responsibility shown by one of its own members, Councillor Hussain Akhtar, who spent £200 of his own money on buying salt and hiring a wagon and driver to shovel grit himself on to side streets in the community he represents.

Sure, everyone understands that gritting the main roads comes first, that minor roads have to wait their turn and that the council's resources are not limitless. But when a cold snap lasts as long as the last one did, isn't it a disgrace that a councillor acting on his own initiative and at his own expense can respond better and more quickly than the multi-million-pound town hall enterprise that trumpets its own value-for-money efficiency?

Perhaps salting supremo Councillor Ashley Whalley can explain why one of his colleagues had to resort to such desperate measures.