Roads bosses and councillors discussed the possibility of flooding as snow and ice begins to melt after a nightmare three-week period which caused chaos on county roads.

Potholes in roads will also be a major problem for drivers as the snow clears as no maintenance was carried out over the winter period.

The damage to the road network caused by severe temperatures is quickly becoming apparent as the snow and ice thaws, with squads already working on repairs.

And the bill for the winter budget could reach more than £3million – over £1m above the annual expenditure. Last year's final figure was £2,522,688.

West Lothian's roads manager, David Pringle, warned of potential flooding problems at an executive meeting on Tuesday as officials and councillors discussed the problems the county has faced.

He said: "We do have fears of flooding, which are dependant on the weather. If there is a slow thaw things will be OK, but if it's a fast one we may experience flooding.

"The snow is hard packed in large blocks in places after being moved and it could cause problems for drainage. Melted snow also washes away the grit on roads so we may have to re-treat them again. The estimated spend this year is at least £3.2m so there will be a large shortfall to be found, but it could be substantially higher."

"If there is another period of heavy snow that figure could rise significantly."

Council leader Peter Johnston added: "Every resource possible has been used by West Lothian Council to keep the area moving. This is underlined by the fact that we are anticipating a massive increase in spend on the winter budget this year.

"When there are exceptional circumstances like those that we have experienced over the last two weeks, more funds are made available as required. Of course, money has to come from somewhere, and in this case the money will be transferred from other council budgets to meet the costs.

"The important issue is that we have prioritised our main routes and have very successfully kept these clear and safe to enable public transport to run and allow residents to visit relatives, access shops and health services."

At the meeting Mr Pringle and other officials outlined the efforts the council had made to battle the adverse weather conditions.

Secondary routes were gritted on only two days between Christmas Eve and 3 January. The council has faced a barrage of complaints for concentrating its resources on main roads while housing schemes and secondary routes were largely missed out due to limited resources, not monetary problems.

According to Mr Pringle, all staff from the roads, Nets, land and street cleaning services were asked to work but "few" took the option.

A report by the council's head of operational services, John Hill, said: "The adverse weather commenced just before the holiday period. Despite offering all (affected] staff the opportunity to work over the holiday period, few volunteered as they had made alternative arrangements, probably with family."

Mr Hill's report added that 50 members of staff were filling around 400 of the 2,000 grit bins in the county each day as a high priority due to public demand.

There was an average of 155 workers deployed each day to the clear-up operation by the council from 17 December to 8 January, with 87 out on Christmas Day and 79 working on New Year's Day.

All councillors at the executive meeting applauded the staff for their efforts.

Labour councillor Bruce Ferrie added: "In future we have to change tactics and get into the streets quicker because communities out there think we failed them."

Labour councillors accused the SNP-led administration of a "lack of leadership" and tabled a motion of "no confidence" in the council's handling of gritting the roads.

Cllr Graeme Morrice said: "West Lothian Council Labour Group believes that the people of West Lothian have lost confidence in the council's SNP-led administration over its mishandling of the recent council's winter maintenance.

"Many people, particularly older and disabled people, were effectively trapped within their homes and unable to get out of their housing estates due to the lack of snow clearing and gritting.

"This was a unique set of circumstances and the council should have immediately evoked emergency planning procedures and applied maximum flexibility to respond to the hundreds of calls for assistance we received throughout West Lothian."

Council leader Johnston replied: "I am appalled that anyone should seek to use our current roads situation and the worst weather conditions we have experienced for 30 years as a political football.

"For Labour to suggest that the answer to our problems lies in midnight gritting by phantom gritters is patently absurd, unworkable nonsense.

"I have every sympathy with householders affected by the dreadful weather conditions, but I believe that the overwhelming majority of residents accept the need for us to keep our main routes clear.

"I am sure that there will be lessons to learn from these weeks and we will certainly look to do exactly that. But to abandon our main routes would be unthinkable.

"We have worked in partnership with NHS Lothian to clear health centre car parks and St John's Hospital car park and we ensured that our school term started as planned, which is definitely what parents wanted us to do."