WHY are politicians economical with the truth?

I refer to the comments written in the August 3 edition of the Andover Advertiser in the ‘Just to Phil to You in’ column. where Cllr Phil North stated that the Town Mills Riverside Project had the backing of the public.

In the consultation report ‘Andover: Bridge Street / Town Mills Accessibility and Environmental Improvements’, 137 responses were received By HCC’s Strategic Transport team.

In the ‘Summary of Results’ it was reported that, ‘The responses to the paper questionnaires appear to show a considerable level of support for the scheme and its objectives.

The responses received online showed a lower level of support, …’, which is hardly an endorsement for the expenditure of a considerable amount of money which can only be described as a vanity project.

Why doesn’t Cllr North say that 137 people support the project? Instead of the misleading statement that it had the backing of the public. I suppose if one person had supported it, it would have the backing of the public, in Cllr North’s interpretation.

Look across the river from the Wilko’s car park access road and what do you see — a church, a rundown Viking longboat needing some TLC and a car park — not an aspiring view to spend a fortune on. People have suggested that the local ducks and Canada geese will enjoy the grass verge and will leave their deposits.

In the ‘Introduction’ to the report it stated that, ‘A public consultation was also launched on 20 July and ended on 31 August 2017. A feedback form was made available at the exhibition to complete or send back via a freepost envelope. The questionnaire was also made available online along with the exhibition plans and information that are still available to view on the scheme’s website. The report had been written with the aim of presenting the results of the questionnaire and classifying the qualitative data (written responses) into categories to present common themes in the feedback provided within the questionnaires.’ In the ‘Summary of Results’ it was written that, ‘Overall, a total of 137 responses were received by Hampshire County Council’s Strategic Transport team. Of these, 67 responses were paper questionnaires and 63 responses were completed online via the scheme’s web-site. An additional seven emails / letters were received and the comments recorded.

‘The responses to the paper questionnaires appear to show a considerable level of support for the scheme and its objectives. The responses received online showed a lower level of support, but may have been completed by respondents unable to attend the exhibitions, therefore not having the opportunity to discuss their concerns with the Hampshire County Council representatives.’ I really hope that politicians will start telling the actual truth instead of hiding behind generalities.

Maybe the reason for not being factual is that they do not believe the taxpayer will support their proposals.

Peter Steele, Acre Path, Andover