AT present, we have both a public inquiry and a public consultation exercise 'supposedly' being carried out in England.

The public inquiry is examining certain councils for refusing to grant planning permission for asylum seeker accommodation centres. The public consultation is supposed to be taking place in Lancashire -- to determine how many council-owned old peoples homes they should close.

Following the 'public consultation,' under which the people of Lancashire have not been consulted (with the exception of stage-managed, council-controlled private discussions), the council revealed (LET, August 3) that the timetable for closures is already in place! So much for their 'public consultation.'

Whereas on the national issue of asylum seeker centres, there is going to be a multi-million pounds public inquiry.

Should the inquiry come back with an outcome that the Government do not agree with, the final decision will be taken by John Prescott, the Deputy Prime Minister.

I believe his decision, just like Lancashire's decision, has already been made.

The decimated former mining communities in the North East of England could very well do with the highly-paid support jobs which these centres will provide. Unfortunately, for the people in dire need of fresh investment, Mr Prescott is 99.9 per cent guaranteed to have them located in the leafy suburbs of areas that neither need nor want them.

HARRY ROBINSON, Juniper Court, Woodside Road, Accrington.