THE leader of the council has recently reopened the Devey Room in Smithills Hall.

I am really pleased to see this room brought back into full use as it has been long overdue.

I would now like to see a breakdown of how they managed to spend £500,000 on this project. I know restoration work is expensive but I know that the leader of the council will be able to justify it. When was the Victorian wing last painted on the outside?

On another point can the leader of the council justify bin collections at the hall which are not safe according to the refuse department?

We are told that if your bin lid is not properly closed it constitutes a health and safety issue and cannot be emptied. However, this does not seem to apply to Smithills Hall.

Can the leader explain the difference? Did he not see this when he was at the hall? But of course, councillors only see what they want to see; rose tinted glasses come to mind.

Secondly when I was Chairman of Smithills Hall & Park Trust the council demanded that no one should park at the hall unless they were disabled and certainly not to park on the grass.

Again, did the leader not see the mess that vehicles are making? Why are people allowed to park here?

Again this is a health and safety issue in enabling ambulances and more to the point fire engines to reach the Hall quickly. Double parking stops fire engines from attending the scene quickly as the Museum Department pointed out to me on numerous occasions.

Once again, it seems that Bolton Council can ignore the rules when it chooses to.

Ian Greenhalgh

Smithills

Bolton