MUCH has been made of the wish of residents of Finsbury Place, Ewood, to retain their heritage by keeping the cobbles on the street and the (not so traditional) concrete paving.

But though I would like to live on a street with cobbles and an authentic stone pavement, I realise this is sadly unrealistic.

I find it very strange, however, that the people of Finsbury Place, Oakfield Road, Edmund Street and up Craven's Brow, who stick out for the preservation of this part of Ewood, are the same residents who have let Fernhurst Wood, the main asset to the area, be claimed by 'established residents' as extensions of their own gardens since the 1960s.

They believe that, if they fence off an area of land for long enough, it becomes theirs without any legal purchase or agreement with the owners.

I have mentioned this to the Town Hall previously, but, as they had no record of who owns the land, I received a vague 'We can't do anything' answer.

I do not want to start a personal attack but, while people are getting hot under the collar about cobbles, our greatest asset, Fernhurst Wood, is slowly being eaten away by people who believe that putting up a fence for long enough gives them a right to do as they please.

Surely, someone knows who owns Fernhurst Wood and can clarify exactly what the situation is. It is time this situation was clarified.

Name and address received.

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