WHILE I agree with most of the points Mr Fairclough made in his letter 'Why we need new road' (Dear Star, January 6), it must be remembered that when this by-pass was first proposed Haydock was an Urban District Council. The boundary at that time did not allow Haydock council any leeway as how to alleviate the problems of West End Road.

Since then things have changed. Haydock has now become part of St Helens. Yes the problems of West End Road have continued to deteriorate, but so have the problems in the rest of Haydock. Mr Fairclough is right when he says "it is about people and justice" but to build the by-pass where it is currently proposed would be an injustice to the rest of Haydock and Blackbrook Road in particular. He is also right to be concerned about the pollution caused through slow moving or stationary traffic along Haydock's roads, which has been also exacerbated by the installation of traffic signals through out the area.

At present the situation on Blackbrook Road is a nightmare, even now there are times when it is practically grid-locked, if the by-pass goes ahead as is currently planned it will only, make matters worse. This would result in the council spending the next 40 years trying to solve the problems that they themselves had inflicted on Blackbrook Road and the surrounding area.

I can assure Mr Fairclough it is neither selfish nor thoughtless to consider people in other areas. If the council had done so they would not be trying to resurrect a 40-year-old plan to solve the problems of the 21st century.

Last October, the council advertised the Local Area Forums saying, "Let your voice be heard". With the above in mind, I attended the local meeting hoping to be able to put these points forward, along with an alternative route for the by-pass that would benefit not only these areas, but other areas as well. When I arrived I was told that the public were not allowed to speak. What a farce! How can the public's voice be heard if they are not allowed to speak?

Being left with little alternative, I have contacted Alastair Darling MP, Minister of Transport. I have extended an invitation for him to visit St Helens and Haydock to allow all of the alternatives to be looked at and discussed by everyone. I have also forwarded a copy of my alternative route to him and to both our local MPs and all Councillors.

E A Molyneux, Haydock (via e-mail address supplied).