I CANNOT believe that W C Gunning and Mr G Broadhurst are surprised by the £114.7million debt of Blackburn with Darwen Council (Letters, September 8).

It is hardly a secret as it is reported every year by the Lancashire Evening Telegraph and has been in every Tory local election leaflet for as long as I can remember.

However, what they fail to state is that virtually all councils have debts - sanctioned and encouraged by past governments (Tory and Labour) in order to pay for capital projects such as schools, leisure centres, slum clearance, new building, etc.

Tory-controlled Kensington and Chelsea Council, for example, has a debt of £1,364 per head - much greater than that of Blackburn with Darwen.

Indeed, when the last Tory government left office national debt was £5,700 per head - much greater than any local council's.

Perhaps Mr Gunning and Mr Broadhurst will next write complaining about people with mortgages. After all, they are in debt!

COUN DAVE SMITH, (Sunnyhurst Ward), Avondale Road, Darwen.

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