AFTER yet another deluge of socialist venom from Councillor George Slynn, Labour leader of Hyndburn Council (Letters, April 14) one really must ask the question whether he is naturally offensive, or does he have to practise?

What he signally failed to point out about the accounts is that they only apply to events which have happened, and projects which are either merely an item on the drawing board of someone's mind, or are under discussion for, say, tendering estimates, obviously cannot appear, as costs are not finalised.

Once programmes have gone through, it is clearly pointless to ask questions - the possible damage has already been done, so, how can anyone ask about projects which the council have publicly stated they are involved in? As far as the future of Hyndburn's housing stocks are concerned, surely we would be far better off if the council gave answers to broad-based questions, such as:

How many houses are or could be affected? What approximately is the cost of bringing them up to standard?

What are current housing arrears? What financial interest will be retained?

Does an association already exist, or would it be necessary to form another? As one can hardly expect people to work for nothing, who would be responsible for the labour costs of the staff involved?

These are only a few of the many questions which could probably be raised, but they are quite simple, and could be easily answered, without resorting to verbals.

GRANVILLE BROADHURST, Sharples Street, Accrington.

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