County Hall chiefs have made a U-turn on plans to scrap a number of grit bins on the streets of Preston.

Complaints from residents and predictions of an extra harsh winter has forced Lancashire County Council to re-think its plans to do away with hundreds of grit bins from across the county.

In Preston the authority was going to remove 17 of its 51 salt bins from the city centre and ten of the 25 salt bins for the city's more rural areas.

Although none of the 18 salt bins located across South Ribble were going to be scrapped, county council bosses were looking at removing 465 of the 1,851 located across Lancashire.

The county council, which provides a 24-hour winter gritting service on highways across Lancashire, reviewed its grit bin provision earlier this year and had planned to remove those that were under used or did not comply with the Winter Maintenance Code of Practice.

However, following criticism from members of the public and recent publicity from the Met Office, which predicts a very cold winter this year, the county council now plans to put back some of the grin bins.

A county council spokesman said: "A number of representations have been received from people concerned about the impact of the removal of some of the grit bins.

"The county council has reacted to these representations and to the likelihood of a very harsh winter by modifying the grit bin assessment process countywide. This will lead to the reinstatement of a proportion of the grit bins that have been removed."

Decisions are still to be made as to which bins will be reinstated.

"It is important to remember that the salt in these bins is there to help make the road safe for the passage of vehicles and is not there for use on non-highway locations such as driveways and car parks," added a spokesman .