WITH regard to Christmas lights in Darwen, I also wish to express disappointment that Darwen was not included in the Evening Telegraph article on the Christmas illuminations (LET, October 19). The council's policy over the last seven years has been to work with local businesses in Darwen to increase the amount of decorations and to provide a range of promotional events throughout the Christmas season, including a switch-on ceremony in Darwen.

The council, in partnership with local businesses, spends more than any other town in Lancashire promoting Christmas, erecting over £100,000-worth of lights and decorations between the two town centres and five rural villages.

Events for this year have been planned to help promote Darwen's newly-refurbished theatre and the Christmas play. In addition, having recognised that this is a critical trading period for local businesses, the council provided tree brackets for 80 shops in Darwen four years ago to help businesses decorate their shop fronts and to promote the civic pride for which the town is noted.

Blackburn appears to have a better show as the shopping centre owners also spend a similar amount to provide the Christmas lights, tree and decorations for the Shopping Centre, they now also pay for the switch-on events and most of the street entertainment and advertising.

Balancing the demands of businesses to cover as large an area of each centre as possible does dilute the impact when compared to those towns which only concentrate on the main shopping street, but I can assure readers that when you consider the number of businesses in the two towns, Darwen does get proportionally more of the budget -- and the bigger tree!

PAUL ISHERWOOD, Town Centre Manager, Regeneration Department.