At least a dozen more grit bins will appear in locations around Caterham on the Hill Parish over the coming month. The bins will be provided, filled and replenished by the Parish Council. This follows a change of view by Surrey County Council, which had earlier refused to permit the bins to be sited on Surrey Highways land. Now licences are being granted by SCC for the locations of the bins.

Sarah Burningham, the Chairman of Caterham on the Hill Parish Council, said: "I am delighted that we can now go ahead with our plans to provide more grit bins in time to help deal with whatever the winter weather throws at us.

"We had earlier reached the absurd situation where we were being told by SCC that they had no funds for more grit bins, but we couldn't site our own extra bins on highway land, which is of course where they are mostly needed. We refused to accept that position and I welcome SCC's change of view."

Local County and Parish Councillor John Orrick added: "The Parish Council was right in refusing to take "no" for an answer from SCC. We made it clear that the County's stance was unacceptable, and I raised this repeatedly at County Hall. The new SCC grit bin licensing arrangement will benefit not just our own Parish, but Parish and Village Councils and other groups right across Surrey."

The Parish Council will also be working with local contractors over the winter to carry out gritting following snowfalls on some of the Parish's minor roads. This will supple-ment SCC's programme of gritting the area's main through routes. The Parish Council also has two pull-along gritters for use on pavements in our shopping areas.