Nothing we can do about town centre

But the damage has already been done. Bolton Council has done as much as it can to ensure that the town centre is a no-go area for people wishing to visit Bolton by car to shop, or for anyone with mobility problems.

Now we have queues of traffic racing along our roads to Middlebrook and the Reebok Stadium, roads in need of repair, difficult access for residents wishing to emerge from side roads, and police time required to put out traffic cones on match days.

I, like many of my friends and neighbours, rarely visit Bolton nowadays. Middlebrook and the Reebok Stadium were not very welcome in the early days, but now they are there we find their services very convenient.

The stores were slow to develop, but now it appears to be a successful retail zone, and if it is to become the new centre of Bolton, so be it!

Our alternative is to go to surrounding towns to shop, where we are not hounded by traffic wardens.

We now hear that more of OUR money is to be spent - £30 million? - on upgrading our Market Hall again, despite many protests from local people, stallholders and customers.

Perhaps we shall soon witness the re-paving of Victoria Square. I cannot remember how many millions have been spent, or how many times this has been carried out during the last 25 years.

Surely there is some way in which the apparently surplus millions of pounds within the budget of Bolton Metropolitan Borough could be diverted to our hospital and to other essential care services?

It is time the facility to transfer the councils surplus cash - ring-fenced or otherwise - should be made available.

Boltons hospitals have been deprived of funding for most of the last 40 years, and our hospital services struggle to cope with the influx of patients from surrounding areas - a result of the nearby motorways.

It is up to Bolton residents to pressurise all those in a position of power within government, and at local level, to take a serious look at these problems.

Jean Rothwell

Lostock