I TRUST that if and when all council-owned properties in Blackburn and Darwen are disposed of that the director of housing and his staff will not be allowed to carry on working in other council departments following their total failure to collect rent arrears owed by tenants amounting to millions of pounds over the years and which local taxpayers will have to pay for.

Every year, they have presented a report of mounting debt, empty properties, sink estates and problem tenants.

In the real world, they would have been sacked long since.

Why, when there are empty council houses, are people allowed to rent old terraced houses from private landlords for £80 per week, paid, of course, by housing benefits, just because they prefer not to live on a council estate?

No person should be allowed to claim rent higher than a council dwelling and this gross misuse of public funds must cease.

R UTTLEY, Bolton Road, Blackburn.

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