IN response to Cllr Peter Johnston and the local bridge chaos in general, I don't think it is unreasonable to expect bridge repairs to take less than 10 years.

And for the BEN to say no one is to blame (editorial July 10) is ridiculous.

First, Peter Johnston doesn't want to blame Brian Iddon because he basically says that Bolton council found Railtrack hard to talk to, and then he says we should thank him for eventually finding all these faults due to the council's legal obligation to inspect these bridges.

If the Council had a legal obligation to inspect these bridges, why have they all been done at the same time? How have seven bridges come to be closed at the same time if they were supposed to be checking them? Anyone would have put them on a rolling maintenance programme. And we are told there may be more to come, with six other bridges still to be assessed. I'm sorry if Cllr Johnston thinks I'm being unfair, but I thought that the people in charge were supposed to see these things coming, or face the flak. In any other job it would be the sack.

Michael Birchall

Daffodil Road, Farnworth