That said, with most snow clearance vechicles having the ability to be mulitasked year round, I reckon ALL these airports should consider increasing the budget for winter ops!
Sadly not really true. You cannot use snow blowers, de-icer rigs, snow brushes and ploughs for any other use. You have the prime movers (the large trucks/tractors that tow the brushes) but there was never really a major role that they could serve outside winter period.
I think many airports, and the transport infrastructure itself, will be reviewing its preparedness for winter weather now we have had the third year in a row of significant snow, which will probably ensure we don't get any more snow for years.
Gatwick specificaly was very ill prepared - One could speculate this was possibly due to a reduced budget for snow clearing, post BAA ownership.
Speculate away but we don't really know. When they were closed f or 60hrs in November it was reported they had to shift 150,000 tons of the stuff. Not a five minute job.