SITTING in that gridlocked single-lane purgatory we call Blackburn town centre, I thought of some of the pearls of wisdom which have recently been handed down to us by the council.

Up to £1,000 fine for dog fouling. Some 12 to 15 years ago, signs appeared around my area threatening £20 fines for offenders. This now appears to have grown by 5,000 per cent during this time. I know the council is skint, but is this not inflation gone mad?

'A-boards' are another whim to test obstruction by-laws. Many of us are given little choice but to obstruct the pavement with our wheelie bins if we want them to be emptied. Yet are we not obstructing the footpath, and are not council workers compounding the offence by leaving these wheelie obstructions on public footpaths?

Surely, a rule is a rule and a by-law is a by-law, and enforcement should be without fear or favour.

If a fire engine can't get up a back lane because there are 20 or 30 wheelie bins obstructing it, surely it is not excusable just because they are council-owned wheelie bins. Bollards and 'artistic' scrap litter our town far more than a few 'A-frame' advert boards.

A planning application for a new 'bail hostel' was passed, apparently ignoring legal precedent where 'fear of crime' was not considered to be 'good and valid reason for refusal.

Schedule 1 offenders - such as sex offenders and paedophiles released on licence after serving half their sentence - must be allowed to stay on these premises if allocated. This appears to be acceptable to the councillors on the planning committee. Against officer advice, the complaints from certain residents, user groups of the adjacent West End Youth Club, parents of pupils of three local schools, and concerns from the Salvation Army which is situated next door.

Could it be that local councillors are sniffing that many exhaust fumes from the traffic mis-management system that they forget they are elected to serve, and not to rule.

JOHN CRAMSIE, St Mark's Road, Blackburn.

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