I WISH to comment on the article about the refused planning for the Tonge Valley developers. Eight hundred jobs to bite the dust, said the headlines. To be honest 800 jobs are going to be lost elsewhere around Bolton. It would mean the smaller shops closing, some owners going bankrupt and their homes lost. You may not remember Asda opening in Astley Bridge. We were told what a wonderful thing it would do for the area. So many more people would be coming to the area. Yes, they did - only to shop at Asda.

I have seen what can happen to a small town in Canada because of out of town shopping. It was an old town of a hundred years or more. I would say over 90pc of the small shops were boarded up. What an awful sight to see. All this because of two out-of-town shopping malls. So many people come to shop in Bolton Town Centre. Do we want to go into town to see our shops boarded up?

Mrs E Kay

Harden Drive

Bolton

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.