I was a Boston Conservative borough councillor before the BBI came to power and personally dedicated a lot of time and effort as a team member getting approval of £10m highway funding for Boston road improvements.


As a county councillor, Richard Austin was aware of the procedure of applying for Government funding for a bypass over two years ago. So why has he waited two years to do what the Conservatives were doing three years ago? Sadly, your article appears to have overlooked this fact but has illustrated another 'hood-winking' performance by the BBI to the people of Boston, and so it is only fair that the people of Boston know the truth.


FACT: It was Richard Austin and his Bypass Party who put these very works, planned by the Conservatives to start in 2007 and due for completion at the end of 2009, on hold!


FACT: It was Richard Austin and his Bypass Party who publicly declared these road improvements for Boston as a waste of public money by the Conservatives. Yet two years later the very same person is going ahead with them and claiming the credit.


FACT: It was Richard Austin and his Bypass Party who tried to transfer the available £10m road improvement funds to build the first section of an estimated £140m bypass. However, one small oversight was where the remaining £130m was going to come from.


FACT: It is Richard Austin and his Bypass Party who are wholly responsible for Boston's traffic snarl-ups over the past two years due to attempted political showmanship.


FACT: It was Richard Austin and his Bypass Party who claimed credit for turning off of traffic lights at both Bargate and Liquorpond Street roundabouts. This was planned by the Conservatives at county council level long before Coun Austin and his Bypass Party were even elected.


FACT: It is Richard Austin and his Bypass Party which is keeping Boston years behind neighbouring towns by withdrawing the funding put in place by the Conservatives for real time information on car parks and bus times, just like other towns and cities now enjoy.


FACT: Also, Richard Austin did not attend the meeting of Highways PDG at Lincolnshire County Council on April 6, which included important decisions relating to Boston's future highways improvements. Coun Peter Bedford was the only person present to speak up and represent Boston.


The one promise Richard Austin and his Bypass Party did make to the electorate was that we would all have a bypass in four years. Well, only two years remaining and I personally haven't seen any sign of a bypass under construction yet.


I feel the people of Boston should know that the 'Boston Area Partnership, Draft Community Plan, Action Plan 2009/10', a document put together by Richard Austin and his Bypass Party which portrays their vision for Boston until 2018, has no mention of the road improvements, or, in fact, a by-pass. In the famous words of Sir Winston Churchill 'However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.'

Coun Raymond Singleton-McGuire
Conservative