REGARDING your article (LET, June 19) about Councillor Mohammed Khan being outraged by posters claiming he was the owner of the derelict building which was the former Three Pigeons pub next to Montague Health Centre on Oakenhurst Road in Bank Top, Blackburn, there is no mystery as to who owns it.

If Coun Khan had contacted his own planning and environment departments, they would have told him -- as they told me when I inquired many times in the last 12 months on behalf of distressed members of the community -- that they know who the owner is.

They have been in contact with him several times regarding the awful mess that the building is in, but he has not responded to any of the requests made by these departments.

Shouldn't Coun Khan have stepped in at this point? Furthermore, he would have discovered that the Health Centre is trying to negotiate with the owner to buy the building for themselves, which would ultimately benefit the whole community.

So why hasn't Coun Khan, with his housing and neighbourhood services portfolio and his position on the council's all-powerful executive sorted out this environmental disaster before now?

Millions of pounds are being spent on the higher areas of Bank Top, but, nothing on the lower areas. And to add insult to injury, we get saddled with this monstrosity.

EDDIE DUXBURY (former Vice-chairman, Bank Top Community Association), Arthur Way, Blackburn.