IT would be wrong for anyone to suggest that Blackburn hasn't got problems of regeneration and development like many other towns and cities.

We need a large hotel/conference venue in the town centre for a start and still have some urban patches of land which highlight the ugly legacy of a past industrial age.

But the borough is making great strides.

The town centre is progressing and although there is still more to do there are plenty of signs of real momentum.

And the area is home to a whole host of companies which are national and world names.

Locally-based companies like Interlink Foods and whiteboard pioneers Promethean, for example, are enormous success stories and innovative leaders in their fields.

No one can argue with constructive criticism.

What we don't need are cheap jibes like those from magazine editor Scott McCubbins apparently based on a visit "at 3pm on a Tuesday afternoon."

Some of his comments are factually wrong. Time Computers are not based in Blackburn and Janice Battersby hails from Hyndburn.

His stereotypical digs at our region and negative references to Blackburn in particular do nothing to help us move forward.