IN view of the unusual amount of pre-election muck being spread around, I thought it would be useful to clarify a few issues.

Firstly, the proposed Safeway supermarket development for Great Harwood is clearly an important issue for the town. With this in mind, the approach that has been adopted is to gather as many views as possible on the proposal before making a decision on the planning application - unlike the Tory councillors for Great Harwood, who decided to oppose the application before it was even submitted.

Once again, the Tory party, in the form of its unofficial spokesman John Farrer, has put its foot in its mouth with the ridiculous claims about the Great Harwood Library. As the county library manager David Lightfoot has made clear, Mr Farrer's comments are completely unfounded and hardly worth the paper they are written on.

Secondly, it was revealed (LET, April 23) that a critic of the scheme (and of everything else that the council does) Mr Philip Congdon, had his knuckles firmly rapped for making what Nigel Rix, the borough's director of regeneration, described as 'offensive and ill informed' comments about the proposal.

More worryingly, the report went on to reveal that Mr Congdon, who claimed that he has 'no politial affiliations' is actually a failed parliamentary candidate for the Referendum Party, with strong links to the Conservative Party.

The report also noted that Mr Congdon is a close friend of Adrian Shurmer, who is standing as an 'independent' in the local election. Presumably, as an 'independent,' Mr Shurmer would also claim to have 'no political affiliations.' Can all this be coincidence? And what should we make of the fact that the local Tory party decided not to field a candidate to oppose Mr Shurmer?

Thirdly, Tory candidate Lyn Wilson has written moaning about the council's initiative to clean up "grot spots" in the area. Silly. The scheme has been a tremendous success since it was launched and we are now making huge strides in cleaning up eyesores with our hard-working 'hit squad.'

Finally, I would like to draw people's attention to the Tory Party's arrogant claim that it will "charge through the front door of the town hall, banners blazing and trumpets blaring" on May 6. As I have said previously, most local election seats are won on only a handful of votes, and I would urge Labour supporters, and anyone else who is fed up with Tory arrogance, to get out and make a difference on polling day.

Given what the Tories say in their election leaflet - on one hand, they will lower council taxes and on the other, they will increase spending by £450,000 - can they be trusted? We really cannot afford to let them creep in through the back door as they did with so many seats in last year's local election.

COUNCILLOR GEORGE SLYNN, Haydock Square, Great Harwood.

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