NOT a great while ago the taxpayers of Leigh paid for shrubbery to be bought and planted around the car park near Doctor's Nook in the town centre.

Recently the taxpayers money was spent on ripping it all up and replacing it with "block-paving". Sian Jay, of Coalfield Challenge, when I enquired about this, said the shrubs were making it easier for people to steal from cars. In which case, why plant them in the first place?

I was also told that it was NOT taxpayers money but Government money - well where does the Government get their money from, if it is not the taxpayer?

Like the bus lane fiasco in Lord Street, this is yet another example of blatant lack of consultation with the people who live and work in the town. Why do the powers that be not ask us what we want?

The money being so mis-used is from the Single Regeneration Budget, "Single" in that we will only have it once and, therefore, we need to spend it wisely.

We only have a say in the local democratic elections; these paid co-ordinators of schemes are completely unaccountable to the public in how they are spending our money.

Disgusted Taxpayer of Leigh

(name and address supplied)

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