THE "Bury Plan 2005" leaflet comments on the "improved performance" of the council, its officers and staff.

A book could be written about the deterioration of Bury but I will comment on only one issue at this stage the walk from my home to Bury centre.

I cross Newbold Street into Whitehead Park, where the council has recently spent a lot of money on improvements, for which much praise is due. The "dog dirt" problem, however, has not entirely disappeared, and the mounds of mud left on the footpath between the tennis courts and Lonsdale Street would not be tolerated by contractors in the private sector. As an ex-public works and buildings contractor, and having worked for a nearby local authority for many years, I do know the facts.

There is an issue on Wood Street, but the real problem of litter and rubbish starts in the small copse over the River Irwell, to the left of the footpath at the start of Bolton Street and continues along Carlyle Street, Tanpits Road, under Peel Way and into Bury centre at Tithebarn Street.

The litter along this route is horrendous. You would not expect it in a poor Third World country, let alone a supposedly improving local authority in the worlds fourth richest economy.

It seems to me that John Byrne's "top marks for good use of limited resources" is stretching the truth somewhat. Maybe he can give a logical explanation as to why the underpass under Peel Way to Tithebarn Street is being re-surfaced at an obvious cost of several thousand pounds. As one of the very few regular users of this underpass, I can tell you that this work did not need to be done! Maybe the council department concerned, in order to maintain their annual funding allotment, had to quickly throw some money at anything prior to March 31 (been there; been involved in that scenario).

It is hardly a logical and cost-effective way of utilising tax-payers money, nor is the appointment of a childrens officer to the councils already over-sized and over-paid administrative staff, at a whopping salary of £92k pa.

When the majority of working people in Bury earn the pittance of around the national minimum wage of less than £10k pa, then nobody is worth that sort of remuneration.

Come on Bury Council, trundle the PR workers and "spin doctors" out of their warm comfortable offices. The wool over our eyes is wearing mighty thin!

TREVOR L. SMITH

Campaign for Morality,

Fairness and Truth.