I NOTICE that Church Street, our "flagship" multi-million-pound pedestrianised area, where previously even the parking bays could not be daubed with yellow lines, is now fenced off and being unceremoniously dug up and driven over by HGVs and tracked excavators.

Apparently it must have been too much to expect that the street furniture, newly planted trees, hideously expensive paviours, flagstones and kerbs would be carefully removed for storage, prior to any work commencing on the adjacent area.

Our town planners must be aware that when approving designs for light commercial and domestic traffic, the highly decorative materials would never be intended to withstand heavy usage.

You may remember that not long ago finances were so tight that we couldn't afford to keep our Lewis Textile Museum open for future generations to inherit, as was the benefactor's intention.

Yet it would appear that the ridiculous spending and wasting of money is still to be allowed to continue regardless of where and on what it is spent.

We will very shortly have a bridge leading from one bottleneck to another, (over two railway lines) that will rival every capital city in the world, let alone the major towns and cities in this country.

We already have street "art" that many admire but normal folk look at in total disbelief, plus others that give you a good soaking if you wander too close.

Any visitors to the town centre would do well to remember that there are large balls, bollards, statues and metal posts scattered about all over the place and you could quite easily fall or bump into if you are not careful where you are walking.

Whoever is in overall charge of this current Christmas pantomime should be hanging his head in shame.

I've lived in Blackburn all my life and never has the town been in such a bloody mess.

RON CRANE, Blackburn.