I HAVE lived in Leigh all my life and have seen the town change and grow several times – and not always for the better.

But the plight being inflicted on once good and decent neighbourhoods is too much.

We are losing our identity in Glebe Street and Gordon Street.

We have constant new arrivals who seem to have no respect for the neighbourhoods they take over or the people, some of whom have lived in their houses all their lives.

The pavements are more like car parks, with little room or thought for pedestrians in spite of it being illegal to pavement park.

Then there is the matter of litter all over the streets most of the time and the constant fly-tipping, with no regard to safety or the law.

So much so that in a two-month period the council had to remove five cage vehicles worth of waste and 38 contaminated bins (wrongly filled) – an ongoing problem.

The council requested bins be kept in gardens until they are due to go out to try to keep the mess down, but there are now more bins out than before the request.

Many of the houses are overcrowded, which is a matter for the private landlords who own many of them.

The houses are decreasing in value all the time. Long-term residents who own their properties and want to leave face losing as much as £30,000.

Some take the loss just to get away, others can’t afford to lose so much.

Then there is the way some of these people react when asked to do something they do not want to do. How they scream and shout abuse.

The streets are like wacky races, with cars zooming up and down in both directions when they are supposed to be one-way.

This goes on all hours of the day and night, with music blaring out louder than you would find in the pub on a night out.

It is as though there is a conspiracy to force out the long-term residents.

Name and address supplied