WITH reference to the front page story about Ruth Kelly on August 2.

What a sad state of affairs it is when the Liberal Democrats in the Westhoughton Town Council have to lodge a complaint about the misuse of public money by Ruth Kelly, MP for Bolton West, to get headlines.

I agree that elected officials have to be accountable, but Ruth Kelly was acting in the interests of us, the residents of Westhoughton, when she wrote the letter seeking our thoughts on the completely unacceptable proposal to operate a coal yard at Chequerbent. The fact is, she had already realised her mistake and re-paid the costs.

The fight against Coal Yard is too important, and any assistance to highlight our objections should be thanked.

The only effective politician to get involved and continually campaign against the Coal Yard has been the newly-elected councillor for Hulton Park, and he is neither a Liberal Democrat nor Labour.

We thank him for his persistence. Maybe some of our other councillors should take a leaf out of his book.

Desperate times seek desperate measures and the Liberal Democrats are certainly getting desperate, as they are being found out for what they really are -- ineffective and a wasted vote.

Mr Wilkinson should get involved, rather than distract attention from the real issue of the Coal Yard.

(Name and address supplied)