A RECENT edition of the council's newsletter reported Sunnyhurst Wood being designated as a local nature reserve in conjunction with the Lancashire Wildlife Trust.

First, the powers-that-be need to decide whether the woods are to be regarded as an area for wildlife or a municipal park. The two are not incompatible of course, so long as some thought is put into planning. At the moment the only work done in the woods is by the occasional worker sent to do a specific job -- and no more.

There are no workers in the woods on a permanent basis, improving wildlife habitats or anything else for that matter.

The removal of the alien rhododendron in some parts of the wood is to be welcomed, but this has largely been done by volunteers. Beech trees, although native to this country, do not belong on the thin soils of the northern counties and their selective removal and replacement with local species would benefit local flora.

The destruction caused to Sunnyhurst Wood by the storm nearly two years ago, did create some valuable deep wildlife ponds, where some watercourses had become partially blocked. These were quite harmless but were soon destroyed by removing the blockage.

It seems there is a reluctance to create wildlife habitats in Sunnyhurst Woods, but when they are created by accident then they are quite quickly removed.

A CULVERHOUSE, Cavendish Street, Darwen.