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Bolton to leave city-region if MPs get their way

28/06/2007

Pro-Lancashire campaigners in Bolton are supporting a parliamentary bill that could result in the break-up of Greater Manchester.

The traditional towns, counties and communities bill, which will be debated tomorrow, has the backing of two Bolton MPs who are keen to see the town return to the county of Lancashire.

Bolton, along with seven other boroughs and two cities, became part of Greater Manchester in 1974, following the Local Government Act of 1972.

David Crausby, MP for Bolton north-east, told the Bolton News: "I think it is right that this has been brought up. I am a Lancastrian, not a Greater Mancunian, and we should protect the traditions of the town."

However, he said if the bill proposes that Bolton leave the Greater Manchester emergency services, he would not support it.

The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce told the newspaper that the city-region is now an established and well-known area of the country and it would not be beneficial for the conurbation to lose its identity.

Although the Greater Manchester Council was abolished in 1986, the city-region is still a legally recognised geographic entity, with its own Lord Lieutenant and High Sheriff.



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