THE dismantling of our town is almost complete. Welcome to Kearsley, population around 11,000 and public amenities disappearing before our very eyes.

If anyone is thinking this is just another cheap shot at Bolton Council, please allow me to offer some evidence.

Less than 50 years ago Kearsley had the following available — football fields at South Avenue, George Tomlinson School, Church Road (St Gregory’s), Folds Road and Grosvenor Street, plus open space for football and other sports at Birch Road and Bolton Road Parks.

The play areas for children at Bolton Road and Birch Road have been removed, as have several play areas on the Ringley Meadows estate.

The all-weather pitch has gone, along with tennis courts at Springfield Road, Bolton Road and Darley Park.

We had our own library, youth club at St Stephen’s, civic hall and police station. Our principal civic building, the town hall, was left to rot before being sold, along with surrounding land, for a pitiful amount.

Those who have been trusted with the welfare of our town have let us down dreadfully; the list above is shameful for a town of our size.

There is nowhere for the children, teenagers or adults to play. The parks and fields listed that still have open space are overgrown and unkempt.

There are no goalposts for football, no climbing frames, swings and roundabouts.

All councillors from all parties are guilty of dereliction of duty; they have done nothing to halt this woeful decline of the last four decades; in fact, they have been complicit.

It now looks like the football field at South Avenue is to be lost and, as the grass grows longer, I will lay money they want to build on it.

At one time it even used to have heated changing rooms and was used by children and adults alike from the hundreds of houses that surround it.

This was before the council stopped looking after it and left it to become overgrown and unusable, thus allowing the council to declare it a wasteland and dog toilet.

This cynical ploy is being played out across Bolton, as the council looks to snatch more land for housing.

In all, I challenge anyone, especially the previous and current councillors, to provide evidence to the contrary.

Simon Colley Stoneclough