IN response to Mrs D Bratton of Heysham (02.11.00) and her very sad attack on "Barbie". I would like to ask exactly what would she like business people to do, say nothing in defence of our town or sit back and wait till there is little left? The vast majority of people who are in business are not complaining about the lack of business (though it is a worry for next year). The crux of the matter is we have had a season of extremely negative feedback from visitors, who come to the town for a day or longer to find the town in complete disarray. We have a sign on the motorway advertising Frontierland which our council do not want removing. When visitors get here they find a pile of rubble, a simple sign explaining what the future proposals were would make an informed visitor a returning visitor, our council cannot even manage that simple task.

As a "hands-on" businessman I can say this year there has been an unacceptable level of complaints from visitors. In five years I personally have never had as many. I am not the only one! As for the Independent group, yes some do have businesses in the town, though a good number are private landlords who accommodate the very people who bring the town down. So far as our elected representatives being out and about in support of local businesses, maybe they are in Heysham. However in the town they must be in disguise. They do not answer phone calls, answer letters in the press when ringing the Independent office. No-one is available.

We are now faced with the uphill task of getting this year's regular and loyal visitors to return. As for your comment "visitors give positive publicity" how many visitors have you spoken to? I suspect a carefully selected few! The statement you make is simply not true, not many happy visitors this year. The sad fact is that people who do most damage to the town are people like yourself who live in the leafy suburbs and are quite happy to sit back and live in a fantasy world, preaching politics with their our obvious agenda.

This year has seen a number of setbacks, a few major, many of which due in no small part to political 'in-fighting' and point scoring in the council chamber. Perhaps if all parties made an effort to work together for the good of the town and not their own political ends we may achieve something positive. It should be noted, there are five jpolitical parties within our council yet the Independent group cannot affiliate with any of the others to get policy voted through. Have they ever stopped to ask themselves why? One thing is clear. People are sick of the secrecy, sick of the blame culture. You were elected to do a job, you have failed to date. Prove to the people who actually are passionate about Morecambe that you can actually do the job, and are worthy of re-electing.

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