HAVE every sympathy for the people of Darlington who have written to HAS to complain about the proposed closure of Crown Street Library.

On a recent visit to South Shields, a town which I believe is slightly smaller than Darlington, I popped into their spanking new library, known as The Word, next to the Market Place.

The building, billed as a library/digital media centre, was thronged with people of all ages using and enjoying the facilities.

It puzzles me, as an outsider living about 25 miles from both towns, how Darlington cannot afford to keep its library open yet South Shields can afford to build a new one, apparently as part of a £100m town centre regeneration.

No wonder the people of Darlington feel aggrieved.

Neil McKay, Lanchester.

JUST the other day there was a letter in HAS from a senior citizen in Darlington who was obviously upset and distressed by the decision of Darlington Borough Council to move the present library services from the building in Crown Street to the Dolphin Centre where it will sit out of place amongst a swimming pool, squash courts and gyms. It is coming to something when the elderly, who have enough on their plate, have to resort to a letter to the newspaper. The people who are making the decisions at Darlington Borough Council obviously have no thought or respect for the people in the town, who did after all elect them into office, and scant respect for The Northern Echo which has also voiced its disapproval of the plans. Scant respect also for the scores of schoolchildren who wrote to the council in the hope that the library would stay at Crown Street.

Name and address supplied.