I WONDER if I may be allowed to make the following observations through your postbag.

One Saturday I travelled to St Helens to do some shopping and also to have a look at the brickwork structure which fronts the 'soon-to-be-opened' World of Glass.

As an ex-bricklayer I was very impressed with the brickwork, but the rest of the day was spoiled by the following:

1. Chalon Way car park. It seems to be a large toilet/refuse tip. The stairwell smelled of urine and empty drink cans and litter were in abundance.

Near the exit were four men loitering around a door on which there was a sign which read 'please shut.' When they had finished their cigarettes, they threw the butts on to the floor and went back into the room. To do what, I ask. Surely they should be supervising the car park, collecting rubbish and offering a service to the paying customers - the motorists - like they do in Warrington. I hope that thought will be given to this issue, otherwise no amount of publicity will attract people to the World of Glass when it opens. 2. The motorised pavement sweepers. I sat on the seats and watched two of these machines operate. I can not believe that this is the best way to collect litter around the streets of the centre. Who on earth agreed to pay out £30,000 for two noisy, inefficient cleaners. What is wrong with the procedures that Warrington and Chester (two much busier centres) use? That is, men with a bin liner and brush!

3. The state of land left after houses had been demolished, as along Newton Road. Why are the demolition contractors allowed to leave the sites like bomb sites? They should be covered with turf. The consequences of failing to do this is that the sites will become dumping grounds for nearby household rubbish and fly tippers.

I am very concerned that nobody seems prepared to accept responsibility for the poor value of service that the people of St Helens are forced to accept. I could comment further, but then I ask myself, would anybody act as a result of these comments, or would they just give excuses?

Concerned ex-bricklayer (name and address supplied).

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.