A local newspaper of 18 May 2007 published: 'The majority of responses against the Westbury bypass project were from people living all over the UK and as even far afield as South Korea...', as if this was factual news.

This newspaper was distributed on 17 May 2007, the same day (after its committee meeting) that Wiltshire County Council released its response lists.  And we were told by Wiltshire County Council that we were the only ones to ask for all of the responses.  We did not get full copies of all of the letters until 22 May 2007.

It was impossible for the response lists and letters to have been independently analysed by 17 May '07.

The phoney news was obviously a Conservative Wiltshire County Council briefing, probably through stooges.

Although objections were indeed widespread, proper analysis shows that about three-quarters of all objectors were Wiltshire residents (and most objectors to the WCC eastern bypass project live in the Westbury area).