Global warming doesn’t seem to be having much impact on this week’s weather, with the temperature plummeting to minus 10C at Hurstbourne Tarrant on Tuesday night.

It is almost an annual joke that as soon as winter arrives the country can be thrown into turmoil by a light covering of snow or the thermometer dropping below zero.

But it’s no joke when these conditions put lives at risk, especially if it’s due to cost cutting.

When it’s as cold as it has been recently the ground temperature rarely rises above freezing and even a light shower of rain or sleet can turn roads into skidpans.

Black ice is every driver’s nightmare and they have a right to expect important roads to be gritted and kept clear and safe.

The C99 from Smannell into Andover is one such route, where almost 100 children are driven to school and back every day, yet that route has been left unsalted so far this year.

If black ice can bring chaos to some of our motorways it doesn’t bear thinking about what it could do to our minor rural roads.

Cllr Robin Hughes hoped that the lack of gritting was merely an oversight following a change of contract.

This road and the footbridge over the Newbury Road are both used extensively by children and their safety must come before cost cutting.

If this was an oversight then it needs to be rectified immediately, and if it was a conscious move to save money then it needs to be reinstated now.

At a time when the economy is struggling as hard as most of our central heating systems, everyone is aware of the need for prudence.

But not at the cost of people’s safety.

Joe Scicluna, Editor.