I WAS astonished to read in the Bury Times of plans to not only take away the car park at Minden Medical Centre, but possibly also to knock down this superb 10-year-old centre.

I have been a patient for almost 60 years, first in Wash Lane with Dr Firth and Dr Jenkins, and then in Minden Parade.

The building there became totally inadequate for the number of patients so Dr Jenkins and his colleagues worked tirelessly to get the new unit built. We were elated when it opened because we had a medical centre to be proud of, with - most importantly its own parking facilities.

My mother is 91 and when I take her to the Minden centre it is an absolute "must" that I park as near as possible. I cannot drop her off and leave her, so I need to park and assist her into the centre. To have to cross a main road would be disturbing for her and a nightmare for me.

There must be hundreds of Minden patients in the same situation, not forgetting the disabled, who do not want to park in the middle of a shopping precinct and walk across a main road. To make parking for shoppers the priority, rather than for patients attending a medical centre, is nonsense. The medical centre warrants its own parking, including a "disabled parking" area.

Issuing a CPO on a medical centre which has been built for only 10 years, and is in excellent condition, is not only a complete waste of money but a disaster for the people who use it. Bury is saturated with shops with adjacent car parks yet we have only one medical centre in The Rock, and it is second-to-none.

Minden Medical Centre is important to its doctors, staff and patients, and it is imperative that they keep the location, and quietness of the area and, most importantly, the private car park with disabled access in close proximity. Once again, private profit is being put before public health.

N. E. RATCLIFFE (Mrs),

St Austell Drive,

Greenmount, Bury.