This week we're delighted to say you've sent in some positive comments, reminding everyone that there are loads of reasons why Lancaster is such a special place to live.

I DO NOT originate from Lancaster. I first found my way here accidentally through work and the second time as a deliberate choice to settle and bring up my family here.

Why would I do that? Because Lancaster is a great place to live!

Set in a beautiful area of coastal splendour accompanied by a breathtaking mixture of rural and wild countryside, it has a great history linked to a fascinating range of architecture, cultural variety and, most importantly of all, diverse and welcoming communities.

It certainly has its rougher edges and areas that still need to be smartened up, but no more than other cities and a lot less than many I have visited.

However, what makes a city a great place to live in is not how weed free its pavements are or how much money it's resource short council spends. As important as the work of the city council and other official bodies are, there is a limit to their role and what they can accomplish on their own.

Last week's Guardian was kind enough to highlight the Fairfeld Community Orchard as a high point of the city.

As current chair of the Fairfield Association I have always found council officers and members to be willing to do their very best to support us in improving our local area - the orchard was council land and we would not have got the grants to develop it without their full support.

However, it is the people of Fairfield that have created an area of Lancaster where we have saved and enhanced our green spaces, valued our children's play areas, got to know one another and learnt to enjoy what we can do when we got out of our cars and away from our TV screens and work together to care for our part of this city.

To all of the writers of last week's negative letters and the readers who found themselves agreeing with them, I suggest an alternative way of looking at your city.

See the beauty and rich diversity that already exists and put your time and effort into becoming part of the solution to the things that are yet to be achieved, rather than expecting someone else, such as the council, to do it all for you.

To Mr Ellison, who is one of our Fairfield neighbours, I extend an invitation to invest his desire to improve his city by getting positively involved in his local community and adding to it.
Michael Sheppard - Chair, Fairfield Association



I LOVE Lancaster. But it hasn't all ways been so.

Being a teenager in Lancaster can seem very dull, and it sure is if all you do is sit at home complaining and wishing you lived in the big city where 'everything's happening'.

I can remember a time when I couldn't wait to get out of this dump.

Then... around last summer when I had just finished my GCSEs I started to get more involved with what was going on locally.

I started to realise the beauty of Lancaster. Lancaster is just the right size. Never mind the 'big' city, give me a Lancaster sized city!

Small enough to be individual and friendly; big enough to be full of creative, vibrant and exciting people.

The positive initiatives that have influenced me personally are the Dukes (notably the Dukes Youth Arts Centre which has created so many opportunities for us dreaded youths); the Storey Gallery which has managed to keep working with schools and many other projects to spread awareness of contemporary art and furthermore all of the ace people involved in music around the city including many lovely landlords who have supported the local music scene.

It worries me to hear that the people who have power in our city don't have any respect for Lancaster.

I agree that Lancaster has many imperfections and need to be dealt with but it also has life and character and that ought to be protected.

I struggle to see how the proposed developments will benefit Lancaster; if the plans go ahead all we will be left with is a parasite clinging to our city slowly sucking all the life out of Lancaster.
Delilah Simone



*Businessman John Ellison has again contacted Lancaster City Council's chief executive Mark Cullinan outlining his concerns about Lancaster's future.

He's also urging Guardian readers to send in their photographs of eyesores or dilapidated buildings in the district.

In fact we want to receive your pictures - BOTH GOOD and BAD.

Email them (in Jpeg format) to guardian@lmnews.co.uk and mark them Good, Bad and Ugly