A district councillor faced tough questioning over the lack of gritting on Steeton’s roads.

Steeton with Eastburn parish councillor John Hargreaves told Craven Ward councillor Adrian Naylor that the main road running through Steeton had been left icy in last week’s snowy weather and that this was “wrong”.

He said: “There were lots of people walking on the main road — there are mothers taking their children to school. They could slip and anything could happen.

“I do not believe there is anything right about that. It is wrong and dangerous.”

Cllr Naylor — who is Bradford Council’s portfolio holder for regeneration and economy and not directly responsible for gritting — said it was impossible to grit all the roads in a short space of time, especially when the weather had been particularly troublesome.

He said: “As far as I know, 700 miles of road were gritted in Bradford every single day.

“They are doing the bus routes and have GPS systems in the gritters so it is possible to get a route of where they went.

“The grit is very small so often you can’t see it and people think it hasn’t been done.”

Cllr Karen Pickard asked why Bradford Council employees responsible for clearing the roads of leaves couldn’t do the same with the snow. She said: “They clear the leaves so people don’t slip on them so surely they have the same duty of care with ice, what is the difference?”

Cllr Naylor said he would find out the answer to the question.