LIKE many another of Bolton Council’s many critics, Steven Corns (Letters, February 14) does not check his facts too carefully before shooting from the hip.

When I last passed it, Farnworth town hall stood serene in its Victorian splendour in Market Street, next to the library, and, although it was shrouded in scaffolding, it was not and is not being demolished.

The town hall that was demolished was Kearsley — a building long surplus to requirements and these days neither Bolton Council, nor anybody else, can afford to waste money keeping up a building nobody has any practical use for.

In terms of access to local authority services, Farnworth town hall, on a main road and several bus routes, is far more accessible to Kearsley residents than the old Kearsley town hall ever was. I am inclined to agree with Mr Corns, though, over the Gilnow Road trees. In view of previous campaigns and known public attitudes, whoever decided to go ahead should be taken into the Bolton Town Hall basement and shot.

I’m not too sure, either, about the Smithills Coaching House decision.

My instinct would have been to refuse and, even if the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, later conceded the application on appeal, as seems probable, we would have been no worse off.

The involvement of the green belt land is what makes the difference for me.

Peter Johnston Kendal Road Bolton