FOLLOWING your rather critical Opinion (LET, January 8) and in defence of our local councillors who have been effectively gagged by Burnley's ruling Labour group, having lived in the town all my life and been resident in Lowerhouse Ward for many years, I feel compelled to comment on the occurrences which have led to the consideration of disciplinary action being taken against them.

Jack Alston, Eddie Fisk and Joe Tierney were democratically elected by the people of this ward as their representatives. All three live in the ward and hold a surgery locally each Saturday.

They are, therefore, familiar with the problems and the needs of the people and the area and were elected to attempt and, hopefully, succeed in conveying the opinions of the majority of residents, relevant to decisions which directly affect this ward, to the appropriate decision makers.

It would appear that this is exactly what they have been attempting to do with regard to many of the present housing policies and procedures whose implementation is beginning to adversely affect the council housing stock in this ward. The majority of Burnley citizens are well aware of the degeneration on many council estates because of policies which benefit only a small minority and completely disregard relative social or environmental issues.

The tenants in Lowerhouse Ward may not have benefited from generous council hand-outs or major improvement schemes but most of the council housing in this area is a credit to the residents and the town because of the time and money spent by the tenants themselves on ensuring that their properties are well kept.

We do not wish to see these estates suffering the same fate as others in Burnley and therefore must support our councillors in their efforts to influence present policies, not by pressurising officers as indicated in recent press and local TV reports, but through the democratic process which they have been following in representing the people who elected them.

The recently published lengthy and repetitive report has not only proved to be ill-conceived and expensive, but unsuccessful in its attempts to discredit any of these councillors.

It would appear that the only useful purpose it has served is to highlight the extent of the administrative bungling which is occurring within housing services and the overwhelming urge felt by "officialdom" to waste the town's finances.

M DISLEY, Middlesex Avenue, Burnley.

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