I WAS amazed to hear that Darlington is the seventh best town in England to live. Obviously judged by people who don’t live here.

The town itself is soulless, shops are empty, car parking is a nightmare, traffic light systems have the opposite effect of efficiency, houses are thrown up on land unsuitable, disabled have little or no access to buses/taxis/pavements/shops/flats/houses, council workers carrying out maintenance are a thing of the past, horses are left abandoned in fields – phew! That’s just off the top of my head!

Welcome to Darlington.

S Gibbon, Darlington