ROY Davies (Letters, October 18) asks why the money being spent on Blackburn town centre is not spent on street lighting in Sudell.

The answer is simple: the council is not allowed to. The money for improving Blackburn town centre was won by the council, against competition, from a fund for upgrading important regional town centres.

If this money were not being spent in Blackburn town centre, it would not be spent in Darwen or anywhere else in Blackburn. It would have to go back to the people who gave it us, to be spent in somewhere like Bolton or Manchester.

One pound in every six that the council spends we win in competition from funds whose rules are set by someone outside the borough. In order to win the money we have to make sure our bids fit the bill of those setting the rules.

Most commonly those setting the rules want us to tackle "the worst first." And the fact is that the worst areas for deprivation in Blackburn with Darwen are in Blackburn.

So the council is able to win more money for the most deprived areas of Blackburn than it is for Darwen.

When Darwen is eligible, the council does bid for and win extra money for Darwen. Darwen was the first area in the borough to win Sure Start money -- a total of £2.6 million to help families with young children in Sudell and Central Darwen.

If Mr Davies pops round the corner he will see the Lord Street day nursery being rebuilt with some of that money.

COUNCILLOR DAVD HOLLINGS (Sunnyhurst Ward) Sudell Road, Darwen.