I SUPPOSE Mr Booth cannot be expected to know the commercial position of Chorley and its setting in Lancashire in so short a time.

So he should have had enough sense not to make such sweeping statements about the retail position we find ourselves in.

Let me give him the facts.

Five towns take 83 per cent of all the retail trade in Lancashire. Towns such as ours simply have to do what we can with the remaining meagre 17 per cent!

And if that is not a hard enough situation, Mr Booth should add to it the fact that two thirds of Chorley's population live outside the town in the country.

So 50 per cent of our potential customers live nearer to those five big towns which are able to attract the larger multi-nationals.

In this light, Chorley Borough, with its larger retail allies, have shown great foresight in such intervention as renewing the fabric of the indoor market, creation of Market Walk etc.

If the likes of Marks and Spencer and the C&A Modes have found the retail markets difficult (though the consumer has not) you may be sure that our retailers in Chorley will also be hard pressed -- more particularly if they follow this man's ill-founded and unsound analysis.

County councillor V J Murphy

North division Chorley

Harrington Road

Chorley.