Dear Editor, I was very saddened to read Michele Platman's five line derisory dismissal of Harborne (Post Agenda, Feb 18).

Harborne is a gem with many delights. It contains the two oldest statues in Birmingham (excluding those found in churches) in the Blue Coat Boy and Girl which grace the front of the school building in Metchley Lane. Moving on from there, the High Street has a wide pavement with cafe tables and chairs. Many people were sitting outside enjoying the sunshine and the ambience even last week, in February.

Yes, it's a battle to try and keep small independent shops trading in Harborne High Street (as it is in many High Streets) but the Harborne Society is certainly keen to pursue that aim and the council has put in place a village centre manager to assist.

In the last couple of years we have seen a regular Farmers' Market in the High Street, a one-off European market, part of the Jazz Festival staged opposite the Clock Tower, better Christmas lights than formerly and a more exciting switch-on with a mini ice rink. All of these initiatives are intended to boost trade in the High Street.

Harborne has the historic Moorpool Estate which staged the beginning of its centenary celebrations in great style last autumn and which many local people are fighting hard to preserve in its current state. In Greenfield Road there is a house which was the home of the artist David Cox, renovated into several stylish properties some years ago.

Harborne also has two lovely parks - Queens Park and Grove Park, the latter containing a beautiful huge historic tree and a lake. True, the lake is currently screened off, but only because the council is carrying out much-needed desilting work and repairs to the dam wall and the footpaths. It will soon be opened up again for residents to enjoy.

Close to Grove Park is another historic building - Bishop's Croft, home of the Bishop of Birmingham. It has a field beside it, and the winding lane from there leads round to the lovely St Peter's Church which has Norman origins. Next to the church is The Bell, surely one of the most picturesque and quaint pubs in the city.

Close by St Peter's can be found two - yes two - golf courses. For a city centre suburb to have one golf course is a rare thing - but Harborne contains two, one private and one municipal, meaning everyone can partake in the sport if they choose to.

In the summer, Harborne hosts a brilliant carnival along the length of its High Street, which a lot of local people work very hard to stage so successfully each year.

Residential property in Harborne is very desirable. Council properties are hugely popular and private houses are sold for enormous sums, proving people wish to move to the area.

It is true that, like everywhere, Harborne has its share of anti-social people who commit vandalism, dump rubbish and paint graffiti. However the council's Edgbaston constituency committee, which I chair, has put in a place its own special hit squad to deal with the latter two problems. Like other wards in the city, Harborne also has another special cleaning squad in the area for one week out of every five. More police patrols would certainly be welcome to deal with antisocial behaviour where it occurs and hopefully our new Chief Superintendent will look at providing this.

However, overall, Harborne has so much going for it and very many people committed to it. I am sorry that Mrs Platman feels so negative about where she lives and even more sorry that she chooses to rubbish the area in public.

Coun DEIDRE ALDEN

Harborne

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Northern Rock but not Longbridge?

Dear Editor, The nationalisation of Northern Rock is a liability to the nation, with billions of pounds being underwritten by the taxpayer (Darling calls halt to Rock rescue with nationalisation, Post February 18).

It's an almost incredible course of action: the Government refused to invest a few million in Longbridge - which could have kept thousands of jobs - yet, it can squander billions and put people out of work.

This isn't a short-term undertaking, it's as long as a piece of string and noone can really assess the damage to the banking industry or the effect it could have on other financial services.

SYDNEY VAUGHAN

Yardley Wood

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Inspirational building

Dear Editor, I would like to lodge my objections to the way in which you presented the new City Library project through the eyes of Brian Gambles (Selfridges is not iconic - it's just a shop, Post February 16).

I know and respect Brian and his vision for the future. He wants Birmingham to have a superb world class library... and why not. I thought that your angle was not helpful.

The project needs to be innovative and far sighted. The new library will not lose its lead in servicing the community of Birmingham, but it will need to move with the times and acknowledge the digital age.

Selfridges (pictured) is now a globally recognised icon for shopping in the 21st century. Spaghetti junction is architecturally striking, an engineering masterpiece of its time, and so the new library should be an inspirational building of which Birmingham should be equally proud.

HILARY RIMMER

Matthew Boulton College

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Investors and workers

Dear Editor, It's amazing the lengths governments will go to in order to protect investors and shareholders - as is shown in the case of Northern Rock.

It is also amazing how little they will do to protect 6,000 jobs, as shown regarding Longbridge. There's no accounting for priorities is there?

ADAM GOODE

Solihull

Dedicated industrial museum

Dear Editor, Putting a few 'hidden gems on show' is not what the people of Birmingham deserve, there should be a dedicated industrial museum to celebrate and showcase Birmingham's industrial past, a past that seems to have been totally forgotten in the rush to modernise and revitalise the city (Birmingham's hidden gems go on show, Post February 15).

The former Museum of Industry and Science was closed and replaced with a science museum, Think Tank, which costs twice as much to run and has half as many visitors.

Birmingham, more than any other city in this country, deserves a world-class industrial museum to reflect the events that turned a hamlet into the city we know today.

Let's get the exhibits out of store and put them on view at a dedicated site so they can be seen rather having them hidden away and only seem two days a year.

JON PRICE

Birmingham Industrial History Group