REGARDING the plan for Bacup St Saviour's (LET, June 16), to build a new day school in Moorlands Park would be the best place for it.

The park has been underused for decades and grossly neglected by Bacup people and Rossendale Council.

The sunken Italian gardens are a misnomer if ever there was one. They are growing nothing but weeds and rubbish and the steps to them all unsafe.

When it belonged to the old Bacup Council, the garden was planted with carpet bedding plants with herbaceous borders and was a joy to behold.

I walk in that area once a week, the only people I see is someone walking a dog or a gardener cutting the grass. There is nothing in the way of flowers except two small beds in Stubbylea Lane. Compare our Moorlands and Stubbylea Park with that of Whitaker Park, Rawtenstall. The latter is laid out in formal beds in front of the museum and there is a refreshment kiosk open.

Our refreshment kiosk, an anonymous gift, has been closed for two years. Why? - because Rossendale Council's charges for rent and tax are set too high for any tenant to make a profit.

The only people to use the park are the bowlers and, at present, St Saviour's scholars.

If the school is built on the Ross Mill site, a new access road would need to be made, just as a new access for the park.

Why not use the park for the school - no one else uses it?

MARY HINDLE (Mrs), Walton Close, Bacup.

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