COUNCIL chiefs today vowed to keep the roads and footpaths free from ice throughout the remainder of the winter after a pensioner broke his arm on an untreated path.

Blackburn with Darwen Council was encouraged to step-up their gritting of town centres after the 79-year-old man slipped and broke his arm in an icy subway just before New Year.

Pensioner Tom Ashton was treated in Blackburn Royal Infirmary after falling in the subway at Salford, Blackburn.

Now council's regeneration and technical executive director, Graham Burgess said road treatment in the area is better than that carried out by other authorities.

He said: "Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council is committed to continuously improving it's services which are already at a very high level compared to many other local authorities and we will take steps to improve the service in relation to winter maintenance in the borough's two town centres over the winter holiday periods.

He said as well as gritting all principal roads and main pedestrianised areas of the town centre, the council provides additional grit bins at strategic 'risk' points around town. Footways next to gritted routes also receive some coverage from the spreading wagon.

Mr Burgess said: "This year we received many compliments from the public in relation to the response of the council and its staff in very difficult conditions.

"Dealing with large falls of snow followed by lengthy periods of freezing conditions such as those which occurred recently is not an instantaneous process and additional gritting takes some time to implement and be effective.

"But we are continuously reviewing our services to ensure that lessons learnt from previous events can be implemented to the benefit of the public."