HOW frustrating it must be for the residents of the Burnley street suffering months of leaking roofs and wind howling through gaps in badly-fitted windows all because the contractor doing the block improvement scheme on their homes went bust.

But how much more maddening it must be for them to know that an end to their misery must wait for "proper procedures" to be gone through at the town hall before a new contractor can be brought in to sort out the mess.

Is there no way of cutting through the red tape?

It is four months since the contractor went broke and it will be the end of this month before new tenders will be invited for the work.

But what of the original tenders?

Surely, the contractor who was runner-up and who knows all the specifications for this project could be called in as a matter of urgency.

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