IT is rare for Councillor Warren Lishman to utter a word on any issue affecting his ward or his town, so what provoked him to such ire that he put pen to paper? (Letters, March 9).

It was that the unfortunate councillor could not find a parking space. And his breathtaking solution is that parking charges must be introduced in Darwen forthwith.

Will the solution help traders? Well, a petition signed by more than 1,000 people says it won't.

Will it help the public? Blackburn has car parking charges and I, and I'm sure many others, have found myself driving around looking for a space.

Will it help Darwen? Anchored midway between two large towns, with vast shopping choice and nowadays, because of the car, close to many other shopping possibilities, Darwen needs all the help it can get. Free parking is an attraction.

This whole campaign to introduce parking charges when free parking has stood the test of time, will only benefit traders who will not be affected by any changes -- those with car parking spaces freely available -- the Labour Party, albeit covertly, because of the future increased revenue which they can spend in Blackburn and the few members of the public who occasionally cannot park exactly where they want.

No proof, to date, has been offered that there is a huge problem as a direct result of the free parking policy in Darwen town centre.

However, now that Coun Lishman has come clean, I challenge his colleagues to do the same. Tell us how many people have complained that they can't find a parking space. Tell us how many traders have asked for parking charges and tell us which Labour councillors, including the Blackburn ones, support this call for charges.

COUN KEVIN CONNOR (Liberal Democrat, Marsh House Ward), Elswick Street, Darwen.