AS A veteran of the late-1980s 'Independence for Darwen' campaign I have been watching the latest one with interest.

I have no wish to pour cold water on the efforts of the campaign's supporters, but in order to succeed any such campaign must be achievable, viable, economical and in the long term interest of the town as a whole. A look at the past history of calls for independence for the town and present day circumstances, however, is proof that complete independence is not an option.

In the late 1980s a town council, under the umbrella of Blackburn,-- was achievable and could have worked. The campaign had widespread support, but was hijacked by the then Conservative MP to bolster his chances of remaining in Parliament. Darweners saw through this ploy and the MP lost his seat. Unfortunately, in the process, support for the campaign dwindled and hopes for a degree of independence were dashed.

The current campaign stems from disillusionment with the council and is based on the level of funding. I have every sympathy with this viewpoint, especially when Labour persistently quote a litany of their investments in the town, some going to back when Adam was a lad. Although recent investment in the town is welcome it has been a long time coming and in some areas of Darwen extra funding is desperately needed. Having said this, there is also a lack of investment in some areas of Blackburn.

The reason for this disparity is the way local government is financed and the conditions placed on extra investment from both Europe and national government. Blackburn council has a first-class record of getting outside money, but because of the way the system works, some wards will never qualify for any of the extra cash.

While some wards get more and more money in an attempt to rectify perceived social imbalance when in fact there may only be pockets of deprivation, other wards are degenerating through lack of finance.

This unfair distribution is a recipe for large scale economic and social problems. Local taxpayers do not expect to pay well over inflation rises in council tax and see no improvement in either services or the environment in which they live.

Liberal Democrats believe local government should be self-financing and should not need to go cap in hand to the Government for hand-outs with strings attached.

We have also called for the establishment of six area councils across the borough with a number of measures that would allow some autonomy, including their own budgets and priorities for spending.

When Liberal Democrats asked for area councils, which are working quite well in Hyndburn, the ruling Labour group viewed this as local democracy taken a tad too far, so it was no surprise to us when the town's Labour MP branded the petition asking for independence as 'pure nonsense.'

The Labour group's definition of sense, it would appear, is the creation of 18 Neighbourhood Co-ordination Areas -- area councils with no powers and no money.

It does not need a genius to deduce that disparity in size and population of these co-ordination areas will lead to disparity in levels of funding and treatment. If anything is 'pure nonsense' then these Neighbourhood Co-ordination Areas must take the biscuit.

COUN KEVIN CONNOR, (Marsh House Ward), Elswick Street, Darwen.