I also would like to refer to the Derbyshire Dales District Council regarding their efforts to give themselves a pat on the back for what they say they are doing for the centre of Matlock, well I haven't seen any of them down there with their sleeves rolled up giving the toilets at the park head a good fettle.

Recently and very reluctantly I was faced with no alternative but to enter this hole and they certainly haven't done anything to extirpate the squalor I had to experience.

Someone should be held to account for the disgusting conditions that are prevalent in there, whoever is responsible for maintaining the standard of cleanliness, should be flushed straight down the pan,
together with their P45.

This is by no means an overstatement and I would like to invite the Deputy District Council leader to 'pay a visit' he can then make a comparison to the pristine toilets which will be there for the 'convenience' of himself and his think tank at the council offices.
The filth around the washbasins is indescribable, the wood work needs washing down, it is rotten in some parts and going black, I dread to think of the microscopic germs that are breeding in there.

I raised this issue a year ago, through the Mercury columns, it has now got worse, even the rats are making a detour.

Until I went in there I would never have believed that in this day and age such conditions could exist, anyone who questions the credibility of this complaint should go and see for themselves.

Why have these conditions been allowed to intensify and when were they last inspected by the public health department?

So Martin Burfoot, Matlock Town Council, took a day off work to escort the East Midlands in Bloom judges round the town, 'applause please'. I wonder if he escorted them into the toilets? You can bet they would not have been "immensely impressed" (Mercury July 24) with that place.

He is asking us to make an extra effort to provide the town with something worth seeing, what does he think I am doing then? It is because of my efforts to improve the quality of the service that the public are entitled to that I may now be considered to be another perpetual whinger, as Mr Burfoot so rudely describes those of us who are exercising our right to freedom of speech. Has he not heard of democracy?

Maybe if we all had a few more 'whingers' the council might listen, because they are not always the first to reach the winning post and if they intend to enter the race again next year, as running candidates for the local elections, now is the time to begin strengthening their staying power by taking a fundamental approach to the most important issues on the agenda and stop playing to the gallery about Sainsbury's –
Matlock's problems started when the first stone was laid on that place.
It is time for a council shake-up and a toilet clean-up.

I will now take a breather to consider what I can whinge about next.

Mrs Dorothy Corker
The Shortlands
Matlock.