IT is not the first time that Stoneclough residents have felt strongly enough about being isolated that they have made official protests.

There, although residents pay council tax to Bolton, they have Radcliffe postal addresses, and they feel they are in a geographical limbo as a result.

They've formed their own action group, and their efforts are beginning to bite. Now, they are using a community fun day next month to boost their campaign and to raise awareness of a new community centre which could become the fulcrum for events in Stoneclough, Prestolee and Ringley.

A lack of the right address, as many fans of the County of Lancashire have always professed, is damaging to individuals and individual areas.

If people in the Stoneclough area pay their Council tax to Bolton, then they have already bought into the town. That doesn't only mean claiming its services, but also its local identity.

Let's face it, there are always enough people here stating their dissatisfaction with the town of Bolton and wishing themselves elsewhere. It seems churlish to turn our backs on a whole swathe of people desperate to be part of it.