I hope readers will forgive me for harping on about this, but I really feel our politicians should be held to account for the misleading remarks they make about the town centre plans for Farnham.

Among the myriad excuses for the lack of a cycling and walking strategy he made in his column, Tory councillor and Surrey county leader Tim Oliver wrote: “It’s not accurate to say we’re missing out on funding...” (February 16).

This is simply not true. The window for bids to Active Travel England’s funding for projects of this nature closed at the end of February. And because the Local Cycling and Walking Strategy was not ready in time, Surrey made no bid.

So we have missed out, just as the Farnham Cycling Campaign and others warned.

It’s a huge, missed opportunity and could mean that we will end up paying for infrastructure unnecessarily out of our council tax, or that cycling and walking infrastructure will be delayed another year, or that it’ll be of lower quality than it should be.  Probably it will be all of these. 

Furthermore, it suggests Tim Oliver, or someone advising him, is being economical with the truth. 

I have written to my local councillors who – unlike Cllr Oliver – did at least have the grace to respond. 

But it seems that for all their talk about sustainable transport, reduced air pollution and an economic boost for our town centre, the Farnham Residents Party do not seem prepared to stand up for these things.

I hope readers will remember this at the elections this May.

Nick Williams

Stoke Hills, Farnham