I READ with interest Calvert's Diary on December 9 -- "A Parliament for Bolton" -- in which Alan made the case for Bolton becoming the new home for the directly elected regional assembly.

There is every reason to expect that the competition to find a new regional capital will not simply be a fight between Manchester and Liverpool, but is likely to include other cities and large towns, such as Bolton, with a central location and excellent communication links.

The decision on where to site the new headquarters will only be taken by the assembly once it is elected. But one thing is certain -- as Alan Calvert said, we will not be wasting any public money constructing a brand new "concrete and glass" monolith when there are so many other fine buildings already in the North-west.

There is one other very important point to make about our regional capital -- it will be in the North-west! This may seem obvious, but at the moment all of our regional decisions are made 200 miles away in London, often by civil servants who have been no further north than Watford.

An average working person in London is almost 50 per cent better off than someone in this region. And, despite the fact that the North-west contributes more to the national economy than five other regions, our citizens are the second worst off. The last 25 years have shown that London will not work to address this imbalance; it is only here in the region that we can make a difference.

I look forward to reading more stories about the developing regional agenda in the pages of the Bolton Evening News.

Azhar Ali

Chairman

North West Regional Assembly