LLAWES (Letters, June 18) suggested that councillors should not need to be consulted and that they should know everything that goes on in the Town Hall.

In the context in which the comment was made, I never said I had not been consulted. I actually said that I had been excluded from a 'public meeting' set up to discuss the route of the extension to Barbara Castle Way in Blackburn.

I was very much aware of the chosen route and, in fact, had made my opinion known to the officers concerned. The reason for the 'open letter' was to tell the people of Blackburn with Darwen that some councillors do care when the 'Local Plan' is tampered with for reasons that were not included when the plan was drawn up.

It sickens me to see a small self-interest group destroy the work of many years. It takes almost the duration of the 10 year gap between each 'Local Plan' to bring together the structure and direction of the plan, in an effort to consider what is best for the borough.

Since I was elected, I have been consistent in extolling the advantages to the entire borough, of a semi-circular inner relief road that circumnavigates the town centre from Eanam through to Bolton Road, with synchronised traffic control and good car park signage.

Why should motorists living between the radial road of Preston New Road and Bolton Road -- a considerable number of whom now choose to shop in Bolton, Chorley or Preston -- be excluded from our own town-centre infrastructure?

The travel-to-work route of a lot of people living in this quadrant has already been unnecessarily complicated by the closure of Church Street, especially if they happen to work on the Accrington side of town.

I have had complaints that extra traffic is added to the accident-prone Audley Range when drivers are faced with queues along Furthergate. Feniscowles drivers now go through Pleasington, on roads unsuitable for the volumes, to get on Barbara Castle Way.

Successive governments have chosen not to allocate funds for such a road, but when we now have some small funding package, let's not spoil the grand plan. As the numbers of cars increase, the problems will intensify.

If a town demonstrates that it doesn't want motorists, then it doesn't have shoppers. They will go to a town that provides for them.

COUNCILLOR Alan Cottam, Livesey with Pleasington, Blackburn with Darwen Council.