Cash-strapped councils are being forced to cut back on efforts to deal with extreme winter weather, Labour has claimed.
Labour MSP Elaine Murray said "extreme financial pressures" are resulting in some councils reducing road gritting or the amount of salt they have in stock.
She spoke out as MSPs at Holyrood debated the preparations being made for any severe weather before this winter.
Ms Murray stressed: "We do have to be ready when the weather does its worst and recently we have experienced very cold winter weather conditions, in 2009-10 and 2010-11. Flooding events are becoming ever-more common and more serious and we also have endured severe high winds."
But she said some councils are having to cut back in their efforts.
"A number of local authorities, due to financial pressures, are actually looking at cutting back on their winter resilience. Scottish Borders are hoping to save £170,000 reportedly by reducing the gritting priority for 100 miles of its road network. Western Isles Council last year reduced the time interval during which gritting can take place by four hours a day.
"Six of our councils are cutting back on gritting programmes and three have reduced their sale reserves. I don't believe councils are implementing any of these cuts because they don't take winter resilience seriously; I know they do take winter resilience seriously. It is because councils are under extreme financial pressures."
Transport Minister Keith Brown insisted that it is "worth looking behind some of those figures" Ms Murray quoted.
After milder weather last winter Mr Brown said: "Many local authorities would have had last year very high levels of salt which they did not use because of the way the winter turned out. It is for local authorities to take the decisions they think are in their interest.
"We are very conscious across the country we have more than enough salt in place. We have more at the start of this winter than we used during the whole of that very bad winter two years ago."
