LETTER: Smoke and mirrors

The £3 million is not an additional sum, but is taken from funds already promised some time ago, and the timing of the announcement is transparently intended to give a boost to Maria Caulfield’s campaign. Tory promises on road improvements tend not be implemented anyway. Witness the recent pulling of plans for the Arundel and Chichester by-pass.

The Conservatives have been trying for years to promote plans for a major dual carriageway to be driven through one of the most beautiful and iconic landscapes in the country, creating noise, pollution and scarring the countryside for ever. The Lib Dems are absolutely right to point out that the real need is for junctions along this stretch of the A27 to be made safer. Astonishingly the sum of £13 million obtained by the previous MP