I AM in full agreement with your correspondents Fred Gibbon and Mark English (Letters, Januray 5) both of whom object to the proposed new tower block and car park in Bury town centre.

As a local resident, I managed to see the proposals during their brief five-hour 'exhibition' last month. Not many people got the chance.

The sketches of the tower block show a glistening glass edifice and a Mediterranean-style plaza, but everyone knows how these buildings really turn out here in England, where the climate is so harsh.

One can see existing tower blocks like this in Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield: grey, miserable, streaked with dirt and weather marks, and surrounded not by palm trees but by litter and cars.

Of course, the council's sketches don't show any litter, cars, or weather damage. More importantly, they don't show the town hall - perhaps Bury's finest building - which will be dwarfed by this new high-rise building.

My question is: Why wasn't the town hall included in the sketches, so that we could see the difference in scale between the two buildings?

Mark English mentions the run-down state of the green space on Knowsley Street and of Pyramid Park, where the proposed buildings will go.

Since the rest of Bury's parks and gardens are now so well-kept, this really does raise the question of whether the Townside Fields development is already a 'done deal', one which will bring in big profits for the developers but which will see Bury's last remaining town centre green space buried forever under concrete.

Recently, core samples have been taken at the site, and new electrical ducting has been run from existing traffic lights nearby; this suggests that the building work is in fact already underway, and that the 'proposal' is being made into reality before we get a chance to properly object.

One can barely believe that this is how things are done in the 21st century.

The people of Bury have been given a few very biased leaflets and a five-hour viewing of the proposals.

No information has been presented on the massively increased traffic and noise problems which this project will bring.

What about the effect on birds and animals of destroying the green space they inhabit? What about the aesthetic problem of placing a tower block alongside the town hall?

What about democracy, the right of residents and voters to put their views forward?

And yes, as Fred Gibbon mentions, why is this huge development such an urgent priority for Bury Council, when the town still desperately needs something as straightforward as a post office?

BRIAN GEE

Knowlsey Street

Bury