THANKS once more to Cllr Peel for replying to my letter. however I do, once more, need to take him to task.

Unfortunately the letter printed in the paper was actually and edited version of the letter I sent. In the original version of the letter, I made a point that Cllr Peel had forgotten that the town centre and Bolton as a whole are two different entities.

The town of Bolton as a whole - which includes Horwich, Westhoughton and Farnworth - still has a substantially high vacancy rate. Bolton Town centre, however, is a slightly different story, but only just. The town centre vacancy rates have improved slightly. However Cllr Peel would want us all to believe that it is a result of lots more people moving their business into the town. In fact it is mainly a result of several shop units being taken off the market whilst refurbishments are made to the Market Place and the ill-thought Newport Street venture, and of course the demolition of several units to make way for the new bus station.

As for Bolton being one of the top 50 employment centres in the North West. Credit where credit is due. Mr Peel and company have done enormously well to ensure that the average hourly wage in the town is now officially the lowest throughout Greater Manchester - with full-time workers receiving almost £10 a week less on average than the next lowest, Oldham. The fact Bolton is one of the largest employee centres in the North West is best summed up by Logistics North who, on their website, state: "Bolton has the second highest employee base in Greater Manchester, yet with wages below the regional average, labour costs remain attractive to potential employers"

We are now a town where highly skilled workers can be taken advantage of by multi-million pound businesses.

Kev Walsh

Harper Green