Well I WAS born in Blackburn and brought up in Darwen until I left for a teaching post in 1968. However, my mother still lives in Darwen.

Unfortunately she is now largely housebound, which necessitates me visiting Darwen every two to three weeks. I'm increasingly appalled by the appearance of Darwen and its environs.

The impression one gets of a town is determined by many factors; quality of buildings and their state of repair, the appearance of roads and pavements and the amount of rubbish..

There is an enormous amount of litter on the streets, in disused doorways, in gardens, on spare land and in gutters.

Now where is detritus generated? We obviously have morons who casually drop unwanted wrappers.

We supposedly have 'litter laws,' but who is there to enforce them?

We have the cerebrally challenged who, being too idle to visit a skip, fly tip, and, when this isn't cleared, others see this as an invitation to add their own contribution to the festering heap.

Does anyone make an effort to investigate or control this? It would seem, very rarely.

On my most recent visit, I read with interest an article about the proposed transit system for North East Lancashire.

It seems it took six years and £1million of local government funds to determine that the hills in the area made it impossible for modern technology to provide a tram system which the Victorians managed to accomplish.

But I digress! Reading this Telegraph piece led me to wonder whether anyone in the refuse collection department did a study to determine whether wheelie bins of the pattern currently in use were suitable for use in Lancashire towns, where a majority of houses are built on the steep sides of valleys and winds are common.

I'm sure that a reasonable proportion of the rubbish which pervades Darwen's streets is spillage from bins which have toppled due to the effects of wind and/or gravity.

Refuse collection, it seems, means hooking the bin on the back of the truck irrespective of whether its contents are already scattered down the road.

ALLAN REELING, Randlay, Telford, Shropshire.