COUNCIL houses, refurbished at a cost of hundreds of thousands of pounds, are about to be bulldozed, and in their place 47 private homes for sale and 17 Housing Association bungalows will be built.

And this, according to Cllr Noel Spencer, executive member entrusted to look after our council house stock, is the way forward. This he says "Should ensure a strong community, because residents" -- please note residents, not tenants -- "will have more of a stake in where they live."

Had this been done by a Conservative Council, and had this been said by a Tory executive member in charge of housing, Labour councillors would no doubt have been up in arms, and rightfully so.

But it isn't the first time the Council has sent in the bulldozers to flatten the homes they have been entrusted to protect. It has happened on other estates in Bolton. And the reason? Because the houses are "hard to let".

When will they ever learn that you do not knock down fine old buildings, because developers wait, cash in hand, to replace them with ugly office blocks. You don't close toilets because of perverts. You do not even dream of selling off our parks, because they no longer attract people due to neglect. And you certainly do not demolish good council property simply because you haven't got the bottle to get rid of nuisance tenants, or set up a zero tolerance policy, where anti-social behaviour will not be tolerated.

Brian Derbyshire

Ribchester Grove

Bolton