REGARDING your recent reports on the A-board saga, the chairman of the regeneration committee, of Blackburn with Darwen Council, openly admits (LET, June 12) that some Labour councillors would have difficulty in answering the questionnaire provided by the local chamber of trade.

This, then, must add weight to a recent report that 10 per cent of Labour councillors cannot read or write.

Why has this council taken 15 years to implement the 1980 Highways Act banning A-boards? Is it just a copy cat policy?

The excuse put forward is that it is a matter of safety. Then why does the council not produce figures to this effect?

The council has since 1980 paid out hundreds of thousands of pounds insurance compensation for people hurt using the ordinary footpaths, which it should maintain. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

Blackburn Labour councillors should take another leaf out of Labour Blackpool's book - the one that manages to reduce council tax.

Blackpool does not appear to have any objection to A-boards, and experiences crowded streets and shopping areas - something Blackburn only sees at Christmas.

Blackburn Council should admit it got it wrong and let the ban just fade away.

WALT MEADOWS, Whalley New Road, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.