YOU'VE heard of beef mountains and salt lakes ... but York will have a salt mountain on its hands after our mild winter.

Fewer frosty nights than normal have meant fewer salting runs along the city's roads by workmen from City of York Council.

Staff have only been required to salt icy roads on 30 occasions, compared with about 60 runs in an average winter, says spokesman Mike Tavener.

Two thousand tons of salt were ordered at the start of the winter by the commercial services department.

Now, with only a few weeks to go before the ice risk disappears, about 1,000 tons remain in stock at a depot in Foss Islands Road in a towering pile some 20 feet high.

It will stay there through the summer, ready for use next winter.

Some five to ten per cent may be lost through rainfall running off the mountain, and a salt barn may be built at some stage in future to protect such stocks.

It has not yet been decided what to do with any remaining funds in the winter gritting budget, although it might simply go towards meeting the cost of next winter's programme. North Yorkshire County Council has also carried out less salting runs than normal.

But Mike Masterman, head of environmental management, said the £2.5 million budget, deliberately set for a mild winter, had still been slightly overspent, with many of the costs arising regardless of how many times the crews had to go out.

But he added that a harsh winter would have resulted in a much more severe overspend.

The remaining salt was left in piles across the county, ready for use next winter.

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