Playground a peril for children
What a poor job Preston Council has made of looking after the children's play area in Woodplumpton.
The grass has not been cut for at least four months now and it is just above your ankles.
There are also a number of glass bottles lying around. My biggest concern, however, is the flooring around the climbing frame and slide. It is extremely slippery and could cause a serious accident.
Another problem is the piece of apparatus called the spiderweb. In my opinion it is an accident waiting to happen. The ropes are slippery and rotting.
Apart from the council being neglectful, some dog owners let their pets use the area as a toilet, and don't pick up after them.
How hard is it to take a bag, pick up the mess and put it in the bins that are provided?
Children around the village use it as a sports field. They don't want to be running round and then standing in dog mess because some owners can't be bothered.
Vicky, Woodplumpton, via email (full name and address supplied)

Stretch of water that time forgot
Do any of your readers know whether the tiny stretch of water on the corner of Maudland Road and Leighton Street in Preston, and behind the Friargate Social Club and Institute, is what remains of the canal, which continued on from the aqueduct across Aqueduct Street, through the town and on towards the tram bridge?
The railway line which heads towards Longridge goes over the top of it.
You can view this by looking over the wall on Maudland Road, between Cold Bath Street and Leighton Street.
An alternative is to use Microsoft Virtual Earth or Google Earth, where you can follow the course of the canal, as it was, before it was filled in.This takes you across Aqueduct Street, through the Goss printing press company, on to the corner of Fylde Road and Maudland Bank, where it then carries on behind the houses. It then comes to Maudland Road where the tiny stretch of water remains. From there it goes across Marsh Lane, across Ring Way and Fishergate, following the road which goes under Debenhams to the car park at the rear.
Across East Cliff, it then enters the park where it looks like it follows the tree line to the left, which makes its way down to the river.
Name and address supplied

Gas crisis another folly of Brown
The revelation that a leaking gas pipeline in Norway will be closed down until spring, resulting in a 14% reduction in UK gas supplies and a further increase in fuel costs due to its replacement having to be purchased from Russia, will cause more anger in British households.
It is particularly galling to listen to various politicians telling us how prudent Gordon Brown was during his time as Chancellor.
Apart from his raid on company pensions and giving away the country's gold reserves, he neglected to make any provision for Britain's future power and fuel needs despite it being known that North Sea gas and oil bonanza was rapidly declining.
The fact that we only have a 13-day gas storage facility in the UK compared with 99 days in Germany and 122 days in France, results in our being unable to buy and store gas at its cheaper available summer rate. This leaves us highly exposed to higher costs.
The quotation "When the leaders lack vision, the people perish" looks set to be fulfilled here shortly with some members of society being unable to afford to keep warm this winter thanks to an incompetent government.
John Tilley, The Oaks, Chorley

Excellent reminder of parking abuse
I would like to thank Councillor Robert Boswell for reminding us of the manner in which one of his councillor colleagues made inappropriate use of his car parking warrant and his subsequent offer to repay backdated car parking fees which he had avoided (Letters Sept 17).
We'd forgotten about it and the excellent quality of the LEP's investigative journalism from which the story resulted.
John Green, via email

A sip in time could help to save lives
As part of the "World's Biggest Coffee Morning" fundraising initiative by the MacMillan Cancer Relief Fund, we are holding an event at St Margaret's Parish Centre, Tag Lane, Ingol, this Friday, September 26 between 10am and 12 noon.
In fact there will be several coffee mornings in the area in aid of this worthwhile cause.
Ours is organised by Mrs Sheila Swift, whose husband sadly succumbed to the disease seven years ago.
Geoff Saul, via email

Village riddle of the disappearing drivers
Has the village of Eccleston, near Chorley, got some kind of futuristic transport system?
It seems over the recent weeks that all the car parking spaces at The Carrington Centre are full but the shops are virtually empty.
Surely the cars aren't arriving on their own? Where are the drivers? Could it be that since the large increase in fuel prices, people are running their own kind of park-and-ride scheme by sharing cars to try to beat the credit crunch?
All well and good, but not if you're thinking of doing your shopping at The Carrington Centre.
Tom Fazakerley, Hurst Green, Mawdesley

Simple solution to bus route problem
Surely the best way to reinstate the route between Hawthorn Crescent and Lane Ends, for those who do not wish to travel on Preston Bus 24 route to the city centre, would be to re-route one of the three Stagecoach 68 buses which terminate in Aldfield Avenue each hour. They run via Lane Ends.
It would be much cheaper for taxpayers to pay only for the additional fuel used on the detour off Blackpool Road, than for an additional bus every hour. The area already has 12 buses an hour into town during the day.
John Sears, Maplebank, Lea

CCTV – a good way to avoid politicians
So Councillor Richardson, who welcomed the erection of CCTV cameras in 2007, is now livid that one is pointing at his residence.
What makes him different from all the other people that the cameras point at?
No doubt he wants the camera only observing ill-intentioned people, but some of these people might be breaking into his house.
As they say about speed cameras, if you don't break the law they can't harm you and the same applies to CCTV.
I wouldn't mind one pointing at our house if it gave me early warning of a politician coming up my path. It would give me time to hide somewhere.
Allan Fazackerley, Monks Walk, Penwortham.

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