I WAS amazed when reading the performance indicators of Blackburn Council that 99.47 per cent of the streets are cleaned to a satisfactory standard.

Don't they realise that a back street counts the same as a front one under the Environmental Protection Act?

Rubbish in a back street stays there for months and, surprisingly enough, is just as much a threat to health as rubbish in a front street.

A walk down Darwen Street alone will demonstrate to anyone that the 'cleaning' is of a cosmetic nature. I reckon that a swab sample taken from this area and placed in a culture tray would reveal it as germ heaven.

I was once told that there was more chance of a child catching TB from a lump of chewing gum trodden into one's house than there was of catching a disease from actually eating dog excrement.

There are many excellent machines on the market for removing chewing gum from pavements. Why doesn't Blackburn have one? There are many areas where it is urgently needed.

G SMITH, Bold Street, Blackburn.

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