In his letter last week the Lib Dem Parliamentary Candidate Dr Brian Mathew made a sarcastic slur against Wiltshire Council.

The subject of the slur was the resurfacing of the lane from Slaughterford to Thickwood near Colerne. He questions why this lane was chosen over others.

The facts are that the council has a responsibility to keep roads safe for users, whether they are little used or not. This lane was in a poor state of repair. As a result the local highways office organised the resurfacing.

Many of the lanes in Colerne are old tracks with no proper foundations and are prone to failure. The candidate mentions Doncombe Hill and questions why no work has been carried out on it. Had he asked he would have found that remedial work was carried out last year and further work is planned for next year, subject to agreement by the Area Board.

What he fails to say, is that there was a huge reduction in the roads budget during the Lib Dem’s administration of Wiltshire Council, leading to severe deterioration.

Since then Conservatives have increased investment year on year and allocated an additional £52m over the next six years.

I am sure that the residents of Slaughterford will not welcome obvious electioneering. The inference in the letter was that there was some sort of skulduggery when priorities where set. This is not the case.

The Lib Dem candidate suggests that this issue should appear in Private Eye and suggests that ‘other forces were at work’. If he has any evidence that something improper was done he should respond in a letter next week with the detail, rather than make vague accusations in the press.

In the meantime he should stop misleading the public and act in a responsible way.

Sheila Parker, Wiltshire councillor for Box and Colerne.