I HAVE recently noticed an article in the Citizen criticising the condition of a charity shop in Coppull.

The shop, one of a chain run by local charity International Aid trust, had apparently been declared 'untidy' by the Parish Council.

IAT has shops throughout Chorley providing a service in the borough and funding successful and much needed humanitarian aid in areas of poverty unimaginable in Western Europe.

The criticism from Coppull Parish Council must be deflating to the voluntary staff running the Coppull shop. IAT, unlike many charity shops, is a high turnover organisation providing affordable clothes and household goods to those who have to make a limited budget stretch a long way.

They do not have the time or the resources to invest in glamorous window displays or the neat but sparsely filled racks of other charitable ventures.

This would not, of course, excuse the creation of an eyesore, but the IAT shop could not be regarded as such by any visitor; Coppull is not after all a picturesque Cotswold village. The parish council have been involved in some very positive initiatives to keep Coppull clean, but this trivial complaint surely loses the plot. There are clearly more important issues which the council should be spending their time on, for example, the extent of under age drinking and subsequent violent and dangerous behaviour openly displayed on the streets of Coppull.

The parish council is an elected voluntary body and must focus its limited resources onto the real issues.

If the untidiness of a charity shop is one of these issues, perhaps it is better dealt with by a few hours voluntary help.

Graham Sandham, Saville Street, Chorley.