I REFER to your story (August 9) headed "Lido Left to Rot". As the secretary of Ramsbottom Angling Association I would endorse the headline and add an outline of our historical position regarding the Lido.

We were approached by Bury Metro more than ten years ago to take control of the Lido and manage it as a fishery; this was to be done in conjunction with the Bury Model Boat Club who were already using the water. Other angling interests were approached before us and none was prepared to take it on.

I had my doubts because of vandalism and abuse of the fish stocks. The plus side was the water which was very evidently of the highest quality, gin clear and full of oxygenating weed and invertebrate life, the basic conditions of a good fishery. All this was confirmed when we ran a sample net through water which contained thousands of large roach, pike, perch, bream and crucian carp.

In 1995 the Lido water supply from Taylor and Nicholson's was stopped; this, however, had no detrimental effect on the water quality because of the oxygenating weed already in it. But this weed was not to the liking of the model boat club. To address the problem we suggested introducing grass carp. After much effort on my part a licence was obtained, paid for by the RAA, and the cost of the fish was shared equally by ourselves and the boat club.

In June, 1997 the council introduced into the Lido a weedkiller, Clarisan, at a cost, I was told, of £3,000. This, I understand, went completely against the advice given to them by the Environment Agency's chief fisheries officer as well as my own representations. The result was devastating and that's putting it mildly.

All the weed died along with thousands of small fish and the basic nutrient, rotting vegetation, was laid down for the blue-green algae to feed on. It was members of RAA who pulled as much rotting weed from the water as we could, and no-one from either Bury Council or the model boat club helped. But even we had to give up eventually, driven away by the vile smell and millions of flies.

A further introduction of what I was told was a bacteriological agent was made a couple of years ago, but the water still had to be closed because of its toxicity, making it potentially lethal. Once this agent got to work the algae bloom "exploded", exactly the opposite of what it was hoped it would do. Once again, thousands of big fish died and you could have walked on the green scum on the surface of the water, it was no dense.

Last year the toxity levels were so high the Lido had to be fenced. The council again wanted to add the magical bacteriological agent, which seems to make the blue-green algae healthy instead of killing it, but after mounting opposition from local people that plan was abandoned.

And so the saga continued. The pipework and culvert to Taylor and Nicholson's, which supplies water to the Lido, was repaired in April at a cost in excess of £10,000. Permission to draw water from Taylor and Nicholson's was granted, yet at the time of writing not a drop of water has run into the Lido to my knowledge.

The Lido, in its present condition, seems to be a magnet for increasing numbers of Canada geese whose droppings effectively fertilize the algae, worsening an already bad situation. The geese aren't the problem though; the algae is.

At a meeting I attended a few weeks ago with council officials, it was proposed by officials of DeFRA that the fish population was the cause of the problem, stirring up the bottom! It seems to me they are prepared to blame anyone or anything except the ones who should be blamed.

RAA officials have spent upwards of 6,000 unpaid man hours managing the Lido for our benefit and for the benefit of all its users and it's about time some notice was taken of us.

The solution can be easily found without disturbing the wildlife either in or on the Lido and at a fraction of the costs already incurred by ratepayers. Our proposals, which have been on the table for years, would improve the whole area around the Lido and include an island in the lake, the removal of the concrete bowl effect, reed beds, water lilies and marginal trees around the bankside.

The water quality can be brought back to the condition it was in before the introduction of the Clarisan, and it wouldn't cost half the money already spent on making the Lido into the smelly hole it now is!

I have proposed that the Lido be given to us in trust, and I am awaiting a reply, so that we can take full advantage of grant funding readily available.

It would still belong to the town, open for all to enjoy, and if readers have any doubts about what can be achieved, just look at what we have done to what was once a totally derelict site, behind the council's white fence at the bottom of Brandlesholme Road.

ARTHUR F. METCALFE