Snow-covered car parks that sparked complaints from residents during the big freeze would have cleared if motorists had not been "reluctant" to drive on them, it has been claimed.

An official review of Medway Council's performance last winter reveals a type of salt was used that needed "traffic disturbance" to activate it.

The grit would have worked better if people had driven on the seemingly icy car parks, the report to councillors said.

However, it admitted "improved communication" was needed so the public knew which car parks had been salted and were safe to use with caution.

The report to members of the regeneration scrutiny committee said a "number of complaints" were received about car parks, such as steep Whiffens Avenue, in Chatham, last winter.

While it admitted not all Medway Council-run car parks were salted, the ones that were treated had been done so with a type of salt that "requires traffic disturbance to activate it".

Officers said the severe snowfall last winter - the coldest in more than 30 years - caused "chaos" on the Towns' roads.

After concerns by residents, the committee established a "task group" to review policy for keeping the roads, town centres and main car parks snow and ice-free.

This was revised to include salting the main town centre car parks, the locations of which were posted on the internet to advise residents which were safe to drive on.

However, during late December 2010 the work was scaled down to conserve salt stocks and no car parks were salted in January.

The council said improved communication was needed as people believed that if there was snow on the ground, the roads had not been gritted.