AS one of the two district councillors of North Turton with Tockholes Ward, I am writing to you with reference to your article in the Friday evening's BEN and this letter is to correct a few inaccuracies.

In spite of a proposed road closure, we do not consider ourselves to be the 'village of the damned'.

Your assertion that consultation with residents, district councillors, parish councillors or the local police has not taken place is correct.

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council which is Labour-controlled might be the listening council, however, they are certainly not the speaking council.

The first we knew about the proposed closures was a notice posted on Bury Road and then, secondly, a phone call from a resident.

Our first reaction was to forward an e-mail immediately to the director of technical services for more information.

The following day, a phone call was made to the officer dealing with the case, which expressed considerable concern over the total lack of consultation which, incidentally, contravenes the Borough's policy, and suggested a change of date which would coincide with the end of school term, which will be July 21.

A meeting was then arranged along with the relevant officers, and the outcome of this was that the work will now commence on July 22 and the closure should be kept to the minimum time, with temporary lights for the remainder of the time needed to carry out the work.

The work on the road is being done in order to connect a small development of new residential properties on the North-east of Bury Road to the main drainage system.

The developer will have to comply with the Code of Practice on Safety at Street Works and Road Works, which requires a minimum lane width of 3.25m, plus 1.0m for pedestrians, and a safety zone of 0.5m between the works and the traffic lane.

The Building Act stipulates that an adopted sewer must not be within 3.0m of any building.

We appear to be in a 'no win' situation tied up with so many regulations necessitating the closure of the road.

Some of the villagers have come up with all kinds of ingenious plans to deal with this -- for example, arranging to leave cars at the far end of the road works and walking to them.

However, the matter is not closed yet and we will be monitoring the situation very closely.

Cllr Jean V Rigby

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council