First heavy snow of the winter causes disruption across the Melton borough

While children were delighted to get outside for sledging and snowball fights, freezing temperatures made many roads treacherous on Sunday and Monday.

As the first flakes in the early hours of Sunday turned into flurries it became apparent that many events would not survive.

The first major casualty was the popular annual Santa Fun Run around Melton Country Park, which was scheduled for Sunday.

Organisers, The Rotary Club of Melton, cancelled it because of safety concerns for runners and marshals travelling to the event.

The cold snap also put paid to the weekly Sunday car boot sale at Melton Cattle Market, which was abandoned due to the market being unsafe for traders and customers.

Schools across the borough were closed on Monday, including Long Field Academy and John Ferneley College in Melton, Ab Kettleby, Brownlow, Grove, Sherard and Somerby Primary Schools, plus the MV16 college.

Some students did have to make the wintry trek into classes, with both Brooksby Melton College and Priory Belvoir Academy, at Bottesford, open for business.

Public transport proved a challenge for the Monday morning commute with some trains delayed arriving, and leaving, Melton station

Centrebus announced that there were ‘severe delays or non-operation due to snowfall’ of Melton services RF1, 113, 23, 25, 55 and 56, with nothing running at all on Monday morning before 10am.

Leicestershire County Council said its gritting teams had intensified their work in the borough in recent days, with the gritters having been out on 24 nights since the start of November and three times during daytime in this period.

Gritters prioritised major routes across the borough, such as the B676 Saxby Road, B6047 Dalby Road past the old airfield, A6006 Asfordby Road through Asfordby bypass and the Shoby Bends, A607 Norman Way, Scalford Road, Burton Street, Burton Road, as well as town centre streets in heavily populated areas.

Councillor Blake Pain, cabinet member for highways at County Hall, said: “Since Thursday, our gritting teams have been out five times through the night and three times during the day gritting the major routes and key roads across Melton.

“We would urge anyone who is commuting to take extra care and to plan ahead before travelling.”

Many householders in parts of Melton and in villages across the borough were either without water or experiencing low pressure from their taps.

Severn Trent said the freezing weather had interfered with their work to restore supplies to residents.

A spokesperson said: “We’d like to offer our sincere apologies again to everyone who’s been affected, but the repair and our work to use alternative methods to get everyone back on has been really hampered by the freezing conditions.

“We’re very aware there are still some homes and businesses on higher ground who still haven’t seen supplies return, or who might be experiencing some low pressure, and we’ve been out hand delivering 4,000 litres of bottled water to them.”