I WAS interested to read the appointment of Carl Speight as city centre manager (Citizen, January 16) and obviously wish him all the best in his new job and hope that he can make a significant contribution to improving our city.

I was a bit disappointed, however, by some of the things he said in the article, though. "I see it (Preston) as very much the third city behind Manchester and Liverpool," seems to be taking a negative view.

There is no reason why we shouldn't be aiming to be the top city in the North-West -- maybe not in size, but there are lots of other important indicators, like quality of life, transport, value, availability and quality of accommodation. We should be aiming to be the best city in the North West, not the third best.

I appreciate that Mr Speight's previous experience of town centre management may well have been in Burnley, and I'm also sure that Preston can learn something from other towns and cities, but is Burnley really the best example that we can come up with?

As all of us who live, work, learn and play in Preston know, this is a unique city, with a unique set of challenges and opportunities that will not be solved by simply copying what has been done in one neighbouring town.

I was also surprised to find that Mr Speight had chosen Keele University for his MBA.

Surely someone committed to the North West would have been keen to study at one of the excellent universities in this region -- not least our own University of Central Lancashire.

(Name and address supplied)