IN reponse to your correspondent's remarks regarding Blackburn housing department's letting policy (Letters, July 14), the council are not shifting responsibility on to tenants.

Rather, they are inviting them to share in the management of their estates.

The sort of 'visitors' that the council have in mind are those who use council tenants' homes for illegal activities - for instance, drug dealing and storage of drugs, hiding stolen property and as a bolthole for those wanted by the police.

Decent-living, law-abiding tenants have nothing to fear from any tenancy agreement, but much to gain.

As for previous tenants who have bought their homes, they have done so subject to certain conditions enforceable in law.

I hope this satisfies your correspondent.

E OWEN, Edge Lane, Darwen.

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