Not answering your question directly, but I have emailed my local council to see if they will provide a salt/grit box for our street, as there is a very steep hill which was impassable over the last few weeks.
I am not expecting a positive response to be honest, as they have recently refused to change faulty street lighting bulbs, saying it was the responsibility of the developer.
Have you considered buying a box and grit yourself? I looked into it, and a 200litre box is approx £100 and the salt/grit approx £185 for 1/2 tonne. If you could organise the residents to chip in and share the cost it would be easily achieveable. I'm considering doing the same thing myself.