IN Burnley, whole blocks of terraced houses are left decaying in Daneshouse, with Stoneyholme and Burnley Wood also in a state, with houses boarded up.

Who owns all these properties? Many have obviously been bought by speculators who are renting them at a ridiculous fee which, more often than not, is paid by Social Security at about £65 per week.

Many of these properties aren't fit to keep a dog in. Others have a light on all day and all night, yet you never see anyone coming or going.

It is a scam - there is no-one living there, but the rent is being paid by the Social.

I have lived in Daneshouse all my life and it sickens me to see what has happened to the area. Although the Daneshouse Regeneration scheme goes some way to stopping the rot, it only covers part of the ward and it is perhaps too late for the rest of the area. If and when the bulldozers move in, what happens to the people who have kept their property in good order?

Will they be expected to take a market-value price that is a mockery of the true value?

Where will all these people go to next? No area is safe.

Are council tax payers aware of the several boarded-up houses in Daneshouse with relatively new kitchen extensions? The council must to some extent be responsible, for if they gave the grant then surely they must be aware of who the owners are.

M COOKSON, Ardwick Street, Burnley.

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