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Cottages in southeast England - Source: Reuters -
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The government asked local authorities to cut in half the amount of grit put on icy roads to conserve salt supplies as forecasters predicted another 10 days of cold weather.
The reduction comes after authorities were asked to cut salt use by a quarter on Friday.
Britain's two domestic salt producers in Cheshire and Cleveland are unable to meet demand, while extra supplies from Spain and the United States will not arrive until later this month.
"It is essential that we all work together to keep Britain moving through the worst period of cold weather we have experienced for 29 years," said Transport Secretary Lord Adonis.
"This is a time for subsuming individual interest in our overall national interest in keeping open the essential road network in all parts of the country.
The Highways Agency stopped gritting motorway hard shoulders on Friday to save salt and Adonis said it would now be conserving "significantly more" supplies.
He said local authorities needed to review how and where they were spreading salt.
If they made the necessary cuts, salt supplies should be sustainable throughout the period of snow and extreme cold weather, he said.
The opposition Conservatives said the measures were a "further admission of failure" by the government, adding that it should have found extra salt suppliers after last February's heavy snow.
The Met Office forecast heavy snowfalls for parts of south-west England and south Wales, with up to 25 cm of fresh snow on high ground.
The weather would become milder towards the weekend but next week would stay cold in the north and east, with a continued risk of ice and further snowfalls, it added.
Many schools remained closed on Wednesday, but the number was fewer than 1,000 compared with the 10,000 shut last week. Many reopened after parents volunteered to clear snow.
The situation of the country's transport networks was "as good as could be expected", the prime minister's spokesman quoted Adonis as telling a cabinet meeting.
Most major roads were clear except for transPennine routes, and most main railway lines were operating, with Eurostar back to a near normal service.
The port of Felixstowe on the east coast was now 70% open after ice and winds forced its closure on Saturday.
The cold spell has triggered a record 9.7 million cold weather payments worth a total of 244 million pounds to more than four million people on low incomes.
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