YOU can find out whether a road near you is going to be gritted when frost, ice or snow is predicted this winter.

Somerset County Council won't be sending gritting lorries out to 180 miles it treated last year as part of its multi-million pound savings programme.

It has pledged to carry on precautionary gritting of 720 miles of roads - 17 per cent of the total road network, down from 21 per cent - and its emergency response to severe snow or prolonged ice is unaffected.

And farmers and snowplough operators will still be called on to clear snow when required.

Check out if a road near you is being gritted by clicking here - you can zoom in and search by location or road name.

Cllr John Woodman, the council's cabinet member for highways, said: "We have to live within our means with greatly reduced funding and that means we’ve had to make some very difficult decisions in order to balance our budget.

"The one affecting our winter service was certainly one of the toughest. We’d rather not be in this position, but we have had to look closely at all spending to see where savings can be found.

"I’d urge road users to check our winter service information on the website which includes the routes which will be gritted in the event of ice and snow together with winter driving advice.

"We’ll still be gritting 720 miles of road, but it’s really important to stress that the vast majority of roads have never been gritted.

"Ice can still form even on gritted roads and our advice remains to always take extra care when on any road in winter and avoid unnecessary travel in periods of extreme weather.

"We also want to make it clear that our established emergency plans for times of snow, such as during last year’s Beast from the East, are not affected by these changes.

"We’ll continue to work alongside the emergency services to maintain access to our communities."

*Last winter, gritters travelled nearly 74,000 miles and used more than 10,000 tonnes of salt.

The changes to the precautionary gritting network will save an estimated £120,000 while the changes to grit bin provision will save £40,000.