THERE is another town in the British Isles with a dual carriageway running through its heart: namely the infamous John Adams Way.

It is Boston in Lincolnshire, which suffers from the same gridlock disease as Hereford and lacks a second effective river crossing. Plans for a bypass were killed off by Lincolnshire County Council after it decided that the scheme's relatively poor value for money meant it would not stand a chance of winning government funding.

The good people of Boston had other ideas. The Boston Bypass Independents decided to take action and, at the last election, managed to field 32 candidates (one in every seat) and 25 candidates were successful.

Boston, for the first time in history, now has a majority by one party. The local MP for Boston and Skegness has given his full support to the Independents and has called on all parties to work together "to fight for improvements in infrastructure".

What a pity I did not hear of this until last week.

Readers may like to see the Independents video Vox Popularis-Voice of the People. It is on their website www.bbeg.org.uk . Also on this website is an article written by Robert Fisher, chairman of the Boston Bypass Independents, in the New Civil Engineer Journal (where I first learned of Boston's trouble) which gives the background to the BBI's case.

We all should take a leaf out of Boston's book and be prepared to take the necessary action if no firm plan to push for funding for a bypass is not taken immediately by the district council.

Ray Caine, recently moved from Hereford to Ross-on-Wye.