IRONIC though it may have been for councillors investigating a road accident blackspot on a walk-about in Oswaldtwistle to have proof of it delivered by seeing two bumps take place there before their eyes, was there not something else exemplary in this exercise?

For in embarking of this first-ever 'street audit' along Ossy's Union Road main drag, 15 members of the public, area councillors and officers not only saw for themselves the traffic hazards on the route, but were confronted by broken pavements, overflowing drains and large puddles that need seeing to.

Isn't this local government at the coal-face -- when the problems that tax-paying citizens face are brought home directly to those they employ and expect to do something about them, rather than them being addressed at umpteen removes in official reports and in meetings riddled with politicking?

More of this method is needed -- certainly if the letters this newspaper receives about litter nuisance, dog fouling and much else are a guide to what escapes our councils' attention.

Well done, Hyndburn for this direct approach.

And extra marks are due when the problems it turned up are sorted.

Others please copy.