I SEE that council chiefs are bidding for Blackburn to become a city, and that Brighton and Hove is the other town with a double barrelled name also submitting a bid (LET, September 1).

Well, I visited Brighton and Hove in June and I can say it is a whole lot cleaner and tidier than Blackburn - and if that is one of the reasons for becoming a city, Blackburn does not deserve to become one.

Have the councillors and officials looked at the state of this town lately? Earlier this year, I wrote to the town centre management concerning the condition of the disused entrance to the night club and the pedestrian ramp on Lord Square. They are both in a very bad state of repair. So far, I have not received a reply.

Also, most of the stalls in the five-day market are empty. One no longer in use has been left without even being cleaned. It was a confectionary stall and the shelves have been left full of crumbs, etc.

If I was a stallholder in there, especially the food outlets, I would be worried about encouraging rodents and infection and would insist on any vacant stalls being cleaned by the retiring tenants or the market management

If we want to become a city, then things like cleaning the roadside drains should be a priority along with removing the posters daubed on empty properties all over the town, especially on the bottom block of Preston New Road.

If councillors took note of these things and put them right, then they would have no worries about applying for city status - otherwise, we become known as Blackburn with Darwen City Dump.

M ROBINSON, Preston New Road, Blackburn.

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