WE in Farnworth would be more than happy to have a Market Hall half as good as the one that is presently in Bolton.

It took a long time for us to get a portable toilet after the council had knocked down a perfectly good toilet block.

Then it took even longer to get a cabin with a ladies, gents and disabled toilets, because no one would use the portable toilets. Now we are having problems keeping them open. They are open at 9am and close at 3.30pm for cleaning.

The shops and the bus station don't close at 3.30pm, so where can anyone go after the closing time?

And if the person who opens the toilets is on holiday or off sick, they don't get opened at all.

A few years ago our market was refurbished - what did we get? A canopy round each of the three blocks, some new lights and covers round each of the pillars.

The brick stalls were refurbished but not finished - they still have to be painted.

Members of the stallholders' committee have told me they have offered to do the work themselves. One light was hanging down for so long after being reported that the stallholder climbed up and fixed it himself because he was worried it might fall on a customer.

Another stallholder waited eight weeks to have her water connected - in the end she gave up.

Then there is the state of the market. To put it bluntly, it is filthy. After the yobs have been using it as a toilet, some of the stallholders have to hose down their stalls before they can use them.

Now we get to the shopping centre. We have already lost a number of well established shops and, from what I have heard, we are about to lose more.

We keep getting promises, but it is action we need, not promises.

We were told that the litter wardens would be patrolling the streets of Farnworth - where are they? Are they buried under all that litter blowing about in Brackley Street and the market?

Bolton took over a vibrant town centre - now all we have are boarded-up shops and charity shops.

We have one CCTV camera at the bottom of Brackley Street. This has not worked for a number of years, even though we have repeatedly asked for it to be repaired.

This decline is the fault of the last administration. I hope the new one will do a lot better. We can only live in hope.

Thomas Morton

Laburnum Road

Farnworth