YOU put it in your tea. Now council chiefs want to use sugar-coat over its winter crisis with motorists over the gritting of the city's roads.

A packet of Tate&Lyle may seem like an unusual way to stop York's roads icing up in the winter, but the authority is set to use a new product which, it believes, will even help it save cash.

Safecote - which helps to make rock salt less corrosive - is a by-product of the sugar production process and has been given the thumbs up by the hugely influential Transport Research Laboratory.

The company which produces it claims it is a powerful anti-icing liquid.

Now City of York Council is planning to use Safecote this winter on all its gritted roads, mixing it in with less rock salt, in an effort to lift the cold front it faces every year from angry city drivers.

The bittersweet combination could save the council as much as £21,000 from its winter maintenance budget, but opponents today questioned whether the product should be trialled in a small area first.

The council's winter gritting programme has been one of its most criticised policies in recent years. Motorists have laid into the authority after sudden cold snaps led to icy chaos on York roads.

Last year, Safecote was trialled in Bradford and the product has been used widely in the United States for more than a decade.

It sticks to the road better than rock salt alone, which means that less salt is needed to grit. The council said the amount of time that gritters take to the road would not be affected by the use of Safecote.

As it is less corrosive, the council says the substance will also be suitable for Lendal Bridge and Skeldergate which currently needs special treatments to protect its structures.

Coun Ann Reid, the council's planning and transport boss, said: "I am pleased that we have been able to bring about both an improved service and a cost saving.

"City of York Council is constantly looking for ways to improve both efficiency and sustainability, and this product delivers both."

Edmund King, of the RAC Foundation, said: "I just hope it isn't fattening, or attracts bees!

"It seems that York has recognised that it has had a problem in the past and it is now trying to address it."

But Coun Tracey Simpson-Laing, Labour's planning spokeswoman, said: "I would like to see some technical data because it is okay saving money but public safety is more important.

"I would hope that this would be done in a trial area first until we know that this new scheme works in practice.

"We need to know more about it. If it is sugar-based what will happen to the residue that could be left when the warmer weather comes."

:: Sarah Driscoll asked York residents what they thought about the idea

Peter Hawley, 70, from New Earswick, said: "I've had no problems, but then again I pick and choose when I go out when the roads are bad. I don't know if this new grit will work but it's worth a try."

Robert Clarke, 25, of Walmgate, York, said: "The roads and the pavements are not good in winter. I've skidded on the way to work before early in the morning before they have been gritted."

Mathew Burns, 25, from Tang Hall, York, said: "I don't drive, but I was in an accident last year with my brother due to the icy roads. If gritting doesn't work I don't think this will."

John Yeoman, 56, from Burnholme, York, said: "A few years ago on the A59 I remember slipping and sliding all over the road. They can try the sugar. At least it won't be rotting the cars."

David Roberts, 70, from Fulford, York, said: "I think the roads are terrible in winter. The gritting is useless. There's no way sugar on the roads with ice will ever work."

William Leech, 43, of Goodramgate, York, said: "When the snow comes the city comes to a halt. This new grit is a joke, a typical waste of taxpayers' money."

Updated: 10:11 Monday, September 05, 2005