Whilst the Mayor rightly highlighted in last week’s Gazette the Town Council’s many achievements it’s frustrating he has again given credit to Ross LibDems for the road resurfacing programme when in fact all they did was accept the money and agree where it was spent.

In reality, as the Town and County Councillor for Ross East, I analysed 5 years’ highway spending and proved Ross was missing out on road maintenance. I used this to put pressure on Cabinet to give us an extra £950k. I then surveyed all the roads in my ward to photograph the worst & make recommendations.

The other 2 Ross County Councillors added a couple of roads but when all the Town Councillors, including the Mayor, were asked to add any more the silence was deafening.

The Town Council planning committee then rubber stamped the list which was the extent of Ross LibDems’ involvement.

When BBLP blew the budget on Tudor Rise and cancelled work on other roads, I got the money and work reinstated through weekly meetings with HC officers.

I may have been a LibDem at the outset but certainly was not when the work was done so claiming Ross LibDems ‘pushed Herefordshire Council to give us money for road improvements’ is stretching the truth to breaking point.

I lost faith in the LibDems when I discovered they turned down a Herefordshire Council Cabinet seat, wanting the coalition to fail rather than help improve things.

Nonetheless I swallowed my pride and applied to stand again for them in this election to avoid splitting the vote and losing the seat.

My application was rejected because I wasn’t sufficiently committed to the LibDem cause and “The approval and selection is about standing as a representative of the Liberal Democrats on Herefordshire Council not your ability to work as a Councillor.” which I think nicely sums up their priorities.

I therefore became an Independent Councillor and have supported Milly Boylan, Danny Lister, Rob Taylor and Katie Fowler to stand as Independent Herefordshire Councillors to try and break this toxic gang culture.

Like their leaflets and door knocking, it seems that claiming credit for things they haven’t done and rejecting opportunities on political grounds is something the LibDems do all year round, not just for elections.

Paul Symonds, Ross-on-Wye