I HAVE been a resident of Rayners Lane for more than 40 years and during this time, the area has gone down rapidly and therefore, would like to express my views on local issues:

We have all these fruit and vegetable stores in Rayners Lane (nearly 10, in total). The owners of these stores show little regard to passers-by, by placing displays on the pavement, creating a dangerous and hazardous obstruction to elderly or infirm persons and those with pushchairs and so on.

I have made complaints about this to the council, several times, but no action is ever taken.

Also, a great deal of litter is generated from these outlets and there again, little action is undertaken. We do not need all these shops in Rayners Lane. They do not have such stores in Pinner, so why must we in Rayners Lane?

On another issue, I recently asked the council if my green wheelie bin could be replaced, as it had been damaged when the refuse collectors manoeuvred it to and from the refuse vehicle.

The response I had was that there would be a charge of £10 for replacing it and having just received a council tax bill, for £1,800, I do not think this is very fair!

I also see that more than £30 million is being spent on re-building schools in the area. This is also what I am paying out for in my council tax payment and yet they insist on charging me for a replacement bin, due to no fault of my own.

We need more police in the area, to take more control with unruly behaviour at night from the younger generation. Having venues such as pubs, bars and clubs, allowing alcohol to be consumed 24 hours a day, is inconsiderate to local residents and we do not need any of this.

It creates more litter, such as discarded drink cans on the pavement, which I believe is an offence and a fine should be imposed. It seems there are never any police around to enforce the rule; if they can afford to drink, then they can afford to be fined!

It wastes time, if a fight erupts around one of these venues, which are alcohol-related, when paramedics have to be called to deal with the mindless, when in fact they could be dealing with a more serious emergency, such as an elderly person who might have had a fall, a stroke, or heart attack. Instead the paramedics have to deal with this sort of thing from what we endure within our society.

Finally, the young of today do not know what the word "respect" means. Something else I have to put up with, along with other passengers, is the unruly behaviour of schoolchildren on local buses - they push in and would not think of giving up their seats to those who need them, like the elderly. Yet they get free passes and fare-paying passengers have to suffer all of this.

If these schoolchildren behave like this, their free bus passes should be withdrawn and they should be made to pay the fare.

The younger generation is not shown any manners these days from the parents, who work full-time, to make sure their children get what they want, like the mobile phones, computer games and so on.

More enforcement is needed on the buses, such as Community Police Support Officers on board to enforce the rules.

ELIZABETH DABORN

The Drive Harrow