WILL someone from Blackburn with Darwen Council - maybe Coun Dave Smith - please tell me why money after money is poured into certain areas of Blackburn, time after time, not only to build houses but to create other facilities?

In Little Harwood, where I have lived for more than 50 years, we are expected to live in Dodge City. The area is a disgrace. In the main shopping area I have counted seven closed and shuttered shops which have not been open for years.

We still have cobbled back alleys, although the Millennium approaches. We have houses in disrepair. Some of these, rented out by private landlords, have boarded-up windows and doors.

One house has had a large crack in the window, taped up for the last two years, and we see broken gates and crumbling back-yard walls.

The money going to other areas is, in my opinion, a vote-catching ploy.

H HAMER, Lowther Place, Little Harwood, Blackburn.

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