HOW extraordinary that former Conservative leader of Poole Council, Janet Walton, should now own up to her concerns that “the new council will be a Bournemouth takeover“ as many of us feared it might be (Daily Echo, May4)?

If indeed she feared that the new BCP Council would be a Bournemouth takeover of Poole, why did she push so strongly for it? Why did she not voice her concerns before it went ahead?

Above all, if she was worried that the interests of the people of Poole would not be served by the creation of the new council, why did she and her fellow Poole Conservatives deny the Liberal Democrats’ repeated calls for a local referendum on the issue?

As for her laughable assertion that “strong Conservative representation from Poole and Christchurch” might have prevented Bournemouth domination of the new council, it is clear that the voters did not agree that Conservative candidates were capable of standing up for the interests of Poole and Christchurch.

The people of Poole should rejoice that now their interests will be championed by strong, hard-working councillors led by Liberal Democrats like Vikki Slade and Mike Brooke, and that Mrs Walton, together with other former leading Conservative councillors like John Challinor, Ian Potter, Dean Gabriel and Xena Dion have been decisively rejected by the voters.

MARK RATHBONE, Fairview Drive, Broadstone