CONGRATULATIONS to the Bolton News for producing the two page spread on the Cheadle Square plans.

As I said in my first letter of February 18, this issue is set to be more controversial than the Market Hall, only this time the public has to be listened to. With local elections coming up this is a 'hot topic' which voters and local councillors would be foolish to ignore.

There are two quotes in the article which deserve to be highlighted.

First, Cllr Morris tells us we aren't really talking about the Crescent just "the bit at the back" where we have three car parks and a "little bit of green space." Clearly he either doesn't understand the concept of the 'setting' of an historic building or he just chooses to ignore it because he doesn't think it really matters.

The second quote is from Professor Holmes who states that the critics views aren't "entirely representative of the wider Bolton public" and that it is important that they are "not taken out of context or are disproportionate in terms of the whole population".

I know he has only just moved to Bolton but he can't have escaped the fact that not one member of the public has yet come forward to say they like these proposals and the public mood is evident from the tone of the 24 letters so far published together with the on street and on-line petitions. This cannot auger well for his ambition to attract students by providing accommodation that "exceeds their expectations" and could well have the opposite effect.

At least we have an admission from Cllr Morris that the bus station forms part of the University development and furthermore he considers it to be the "most favourable location" for the student village. So that's it then, done deal!

Just move the village over to the bus station site and we will all feel a lot happier — providing it is designed properly. That is exactly what we have shown on our plan published in the recent article. We hope this will serve to fire the public imagination for what is possible in this area.

Stuart Whittle

On behalf of the Save Cheadle Square Action Group