AS a member of the Radcliffe Area Board and a Radcliffe resident, I have read with interest the coverage of the proposed market-museum for Radcliffe.

I have repeatedly supported the concept of the market-museum since it was proposed and the actual designs for the building, launched on Thursday, November 8, are excellent.

I have begun to wonder whether those who have criticised the scheme, including Councillor Roy Walker, would be so vocal if the concept had been proposed for Prestwich, Bury town centre or Coun Walker's own Church ward.

But Mrs Edyvean's letter (Nov 23) really needs to be answered. Is she really suggesting that problems of anti-social behaviour, faced by every community within Bury, would end, as if by magic, if the council stopped the opening of more "drinking establishments" in the culture quarter? Is she suggesting that for years the Arts and Crafts Centre management committee has been arguing for Bury to have two markets, not one, because the Radcliffe scheme does include a clear commitment to regenerate the market, a building under-used and under-invested in over recent years?

Does she think that only the people who use the Arts and Crafts Centre and those who live in Bury itself have a right to culture and a world-class culture attraction, which the proposed Radcliffe market-museum will be?

I would like the Arts and Crafts Centre management committee to answer this question: if the council proposed a new, modern, purpose-built arts and crafts centre anywhere else in Bury town centre or, heaven forbid, somewhere in the south of the borough, would they welcome the move?

I do agree, though, that the time has come for the council to have the courage to decide, once and for all, the future of the Arts and Crafts Centre in Bury.

BRIAN HACKLEY,

High Dean Street, Radcliffe.