I WRITE after reading with incredulity two recent articles in the Bury Times claiming that Bury is a brighter and cleaner place following a recent increase in spending by the council.

Such a claim was made by Councillor Linda Harwood and if it is true then the moon is made of cheese.

Coun Harwood claimed that the number of litter-related complaints had fallen dramatically. This is barely an ideal barometer for measuring the cleanliness of a town! I don't know which ward the councillor represents, or where she lives, but the ward in which I reside is certainly no cleaner. In fact, like the rest of Bury, it is probably worse than ever.

I write as someone who travels extensively and I can honestly say I feel nothing but shame and embarrassment for my home town. It is an open-air dustbin, a tip, probably the dirtiest town I have ever seen.

The decrease in complaints could have something to do with the public finding complaining to be totally useless. I have been complaining for years about litter in the area where I live.

Coun Harwood says that if individuals continue to drop litter then we have little chance of eradicating the problem. This brings me on to another article I recently read in the Bury Times stating that the local authority is about to introduce a policy of "zero tolerance" towards dog owners whose pets are seen fouling public areas, etc.

If zero tolerance can be used for pet owners then why can't the local authority use the legislation at its disposal (the Environmental Protection Act) to penalise the litter throwers, fly-tippers and irresponsible businesses who continually defile this town? I think the legislation was passed in 1992 but I would be interested to know how many times this council has used it.

Given that the local authority has recently created numerous jobs which pay near-executive wages - such as six area co-ordinators with salaries in excess of £23,000 per annum - couldn't they employ someone to provide more initiatives to help clean up this filthy town. One idea might be more lessons in our local high schools on environmental issues. Judging by the state of some of the high schools this extra education might be useful.

In conclusion, I would suggest that Coun Harwood and all our elected representatives visit a few other places and see just how clean they are in comparison to Bury. That would be a better way of judging a town's cleanliness than by how many complaints are received.

I would also suggest that Bury Council stop flouting the law by tolerating in streets, parks and public areas levels of litter beyond those deemed acceptable by the Environmental Protection Act.

I. C. LITTER,

Bury.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.