I was surprised and disappointed by your online headline and opening sentence, which gives a misleading impression of my views on the bus cuts proposed by the Conservative run county council.

The facts are very clear. Given that I am organising a petition to stop bus cuts and I have voted to oppose the cuts from Herts County Council. Put as plainly as possible I am strongly opposed to these cuts as are my Lib Dem colleagues.

If there is any confusion it is because in a recent informal meeting I attended with adults with learning difficulties, I felt it was not appropriate to engage in party political rhetoric but simply to encourage people to make their views known in the consultation that is under way – and thereby get the proposals changed.

We have been leading on this campaign since the middle of last year when the Conservatives at County Hall first suggested cutting services after 6.30pm. Our original petition had almost 5,000 signatures against this.

Despite some concessions, new proposals are still unsatisfactory making cuts of £1.5m now and ceasing buses after 7.30pm, cutting some routes totally.

We have been collecting a petition since December – online and on the doorstep. So far 3,000 people have signed. I would encourage more people to sign – at www.watfordlibdems.org/herts_bus_cuts I and the borough council have voted to oppose the cuts and we will make making a formal response to the consultation.

Sadly, the county council Conservatives now appear intent on including the full savings from the cuts even before the consultation has ended.

This casts doubt on whether they really intend to listen – but that just makes it all the more important as many people as possible object to the cuts.

Mayor Dorothy Thornhill

Click here to read six things we learnt from the Lib Dems' response to the WO's bus cuts story.