HAMISH McLean (Letters, May 19) repeats the myth that Darwen does not get its fair share of council spending compared to Blackburn. This is not true.

Two thirds of the council's mainstream budget goes on education and social services. Exactly the same amount of money is spent on educating a Darwen child as a Blackburn child. An elderly person in Darwen will get exactly the same amount of support as an elderly person in the same circumstances in Blackburn. Darwen gets its fair share.

For other services, it can be more difficult to find out how spending is broken down by areas because the council simply does not budget on the basis of 'so much for Blackburn, so much for Darwen.'

However a constituent recently asked me to look into spending on leisure. I found that 24 per cent of leisure spending was in Darwen -- very close to the proportion of 26 per cent of the borough's population who live in Darwen. Again, Darwen gets its fair share.

Special monies for which the council has bid to national government are spread unevenly around the borough, because they have to be targeted at areas of disadvantage. However, a disadvantaged part of Darwen, such as the Sudell area, has had extra millions of pounds spent on it through the Single Regeneration Budget, Sure Start and the Education Action Zone.

Meanwhile, less-deprived parts of Blackburn, such as the Corporation Park or Little Harwood areas, have very little extra money spent on them. The council does everything it can to ensure that those parts of Darwen which are eligible get their fair share of central government monies.

I think people assume that because not enough money is spent in their area, then 'their share' must be being spent elsewhere in Blackburn with Darwen. In reality, we are reaping the harvest for over 20 years of providing public services on the cheap and no area is getting all the investment it needs.

COUN DAVE HOLLINGS (Sunnyhurst Ward), Sudell Road, Darwen.