CHORLEY'S traders and police chiefs got the chance to air their views to Tory leader William Hague during his visit to the town.

Mr Hague -- and Parliamentary private secretary Sebastian Coe -- chatted to market stallholders and town centre shopkeepers as they braved the rain for a whistle-stop walkabout of Chorley.

And they wasted no time in telling Mr Hague about their business difficulties.

In an exclusive one-to-one interview Mr Hague told The Citizen: "I have enjoyed being here and it was good to meet some of the market traders. But they don't feel enough business is being brought into the town. I got a few glimpses of that."

And he warned that Chorley town centre could die without a new approach.

"I am very keen on the regeneration of existing town and city centres," he said.

"We can't go on letting town centres die. I think we need to have policies in general which help existing towns and cities."

He said he appointment of a regeneration minister to oversee town centre regeneration and brownfield site redevelopment could be one such policy.

Another would be the setting up of regeneration companies who would bring capital into areas like Chorley to help with redevelopment.

While in town, Mr Hague met police divisional commander Paul Harry and local sergeants and officers at Chorley Police Station.

"I was asking them what the problems were locally," said Mr Hague. "We were talking about what they do in some areas in which there is juvenile nuisance and how they tackle that."

The meeting also touched on the borough's drug problems. "We have got to step up the fight against drugs," said Mr Hague. "We have to be tougher in fighting the medium and small level drug pushers.

"It's a growing problem -- we have a choice whether to step up the fight or whether to surrender. It's does wreck people's lives and we can't ignore it."

But it's not all work, work, work for a leading politician. The Chorley Citizen asked Mr Hague what he thought about Home Secretary Jack Straw's recent call for a British soccer team.

"I am very happy with how we are," he said. "I think this should be decided by people in football, rather than politicians. We have got enough to do! "

And before he left Chorley, Mr Hague praised Peter Booth, Chorley's prospective Parliamentary Conservative candidate.

"The Conservative party is listening to the concerns of the people of Chorley. It has got its act together and has a very good candidate.

Picture: William Hague catches up on the hottest news with The Citizen