I AM writing in reply to Alan Whalley's wailing last week about the state of the streets behind the town hall.

It is fairly obvious that he lives where the sounds of heavy lorries, cars and black cabs are not heard as they are in terraced houses. Black cabs with the sound of their diesel motors have been running through these streets until three in the morning and they haven't exactly been travelling at 28mph. The residents have been getting noise day and night.

The object was to cut down noise and speed and to this end it is a success. Your columnist mentions 'rat-running.' When he was trying to find his way through to Peasley Cross that is exactly what he was doing.

We have had as many as 180 vehicles per hour using some of these streets and anything that has been done to reduce this figure is a bonus. We are not claiming that what has been done has been worked out perfectly, but in our view there has certainly been a substantial lessening in noise levels.

SHAW Street Residents

(name and address supplied).

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