MAY I address this to all councillors and executive officers of this Borough.

With the exception of the three elected councillors for this ward, do the rest of you know where the Flower Estate is?

It's off Bradford Road, nowhere near Daubhill, Derby and Deane, and has something in the region of 800 dwellings.

In 1991, a firm called Easy Excavations carved up this estate to lay cables for cable TV, later known as Nynex, now Cable and Wireless NTL.

Recently, I asked the Highways Department if all the sunken channels on almost every avenue on the estate could be filled in and levelled, in particular two of them near our home.

Along came an inspector with a depth gauge.

He said: "If the channels are less than 40mm deep they won't be filled in."

He didn't say why, but he expressed his sympathy.

Is the reason cost? Why is it when we want anything done it can't be?

My wife and I pay £600 per annum, seemingly for a poor street light and for our wheelie bin to be emptied once a week.

Being pensioners, we don't go out much after dark, so the poor street light is something of a luxury, and I could take my black bin bag to the incinerator myself.

What do you do with our £600?

Spend it to educate children, half of whom don't appreciate it?

Spend it on policing, when half the police stations are shut at weekends?

Fountains and Portuguese marble seats?

We consider our local authority to be one huge expensive joke, and it's a crying shame that Farnworth ever became part of it.

Fred Pollitt

Lupin Avenue

Farnworth