RE: ‘Filming of riot scenes in Blackburn highlights plight of the district, says councillor’ – it’s the Housing Market Renewal scheme that put Griffin in this (physical) predicament in the first place.

Walking down Stansfeld Street four years ago, it looked clean, neat, tidy and respectable.

I’m not saying it didn't have its problems, but they weren’t insurmountable.

The Compulsory Purchase Orders that were then doled out to the owners and occupiers of these houses (as they often do in these circumstances) began a real physical decline within the area.

CPOs are like self- fulfilling infectious diseases. New Labour’s insistence on changing everything they possibly could included, sadly for Blackburn, changing the physical fabric of our streets and communities and eradicating communities for the crime of living in Victorian terrace housing (that if situated in London the government wouldn’t have dreamed of demolishing).

I’m glad to see local councillors seem to be waking up to the idea of renovation as an alternative to demolition – Councillor Walsh states that “doing up these houses would make such a big difference to the lives of residents”, and she’s right – it would maintain the architectural tradition of the area, whilst giving residents houses that were updated and modified to accommodate relevant modern social needs.

This needn’t require wide- scale demolition. But these areas do need attention before they are left to literally fall down.

Joseph O’M (via website).