I READ your article regarding the decline of Blackpool with great interest, although tinged with sadness.

I am originally from the South of England but have lived in the area for the last 13 years and, as the daughter of northern parents, have been coming to Blackpool since I was a very young child.

It breaks my heart to see what is happening to the town but it is not too late. Blackpool still has a lot going for it. What it needs is a jolly good clean for a start. Rid the town of unscrupulous traders, clamp down hard on drunks and yobs and, most of all, tackle the appalling litter problem.

Have any of the members of the council ever been to the States and visited the theme parks there? They are just as busy as Blackpool but you see not one drunk, not one yob and absolutely no litter! They consider the dropping of litter to be a very serious offence over there whereas we seem to turn a blind eye. Now it's not the people who live in Blackpool who are to blame but the visitors. I have often seen people eating from cartons and not even looking for a litter bin, just dropping empty containers on the ground as if the resort was a giant trash can!

I always understood that dropping litter was a fineable offence and so why can't we put signs up to that effect, employ litter patrols along the seafront and impose instant cash fines on anyone seen dropping litter? How much would it cost to send a couple of representatives from the council to the States to see how it is done? I am sure they would learn a lot!

Ms C Mugliston,

Southwood Close,

Lytham Hall Park, Ansdell.