I AM 22 years old and, as far as I'm concerned, I live in Greater Manchester, not Lancashire. Bolton has been, and still is, part of Greater Manchester.

Greater Manchester was formed in 1974 under government reforms and had its own county council, which was abolished in 1986 for political, rather than practical, reasons. But the county was never abolished and is still a legal, geographical, ceremonial and administrative entity.

Greater Manchester still operates countywide services, still has a High Sheriff, Lord Lieutenant, Chamber of Commerce, and AGMA. Manchester Airport is jointly owned by the 10 boroughs of Greater Manchester.

Before 1974, the area was informally known as 'SELNEC' (South East Lancashire North East Cheshire). Also small parts of the West Riding of Yorkshire (around Saddleworth), and Derbyshire, were covered.

SELNEC had been proposed by the Redcliffe-Maud Report of 1969 as a "metropolitan area". This had roughly the same northern boundary as today's Greater Manchester, but covered much more territory in north-east Cheshire - including Macclesfield and Warrington. It also covered Glossop in Derbyshire.

In 1969, a SELNEC Passenger Transport Authority (now GMPTE/A) was set up, which covered an area smaller than the proposed SELNEC, but different to the eventual Greater Manchester.

Although the Redcliffe-Maud report was rejected by the Conservative Party government after it won the 1970 General Election, it was committed to local government reform, and accepted the need for a county based on Manchester. Its original proposal was much smaller than the Redcliffe-Maud Report's SELNEC, but further fringe areas such as Wilmslow, Warrington and Glossop were trimmed from the edges and included instead in the shire counties.

Times have changed and things have to change for progression. Bolton falls into a metropolitan conurbation of nearly three million people. The old ways of local administration have outlived their use, and the way forward is what we are a part of today. I suspect that, in future, all the Greater Manchester borough councils will merge and become an entity, like Greater London, and once again have one county council. This will hopefully reduce wastage and beaurocracy. It's a common fact that 100 per cent of the populous will never be in agreeance and so I also suspect the 'County Debate' will continue for another 30 years.

Bolton is a wonderful place to live - let's just focus on that and the promotion of our well loved town and borough.

Trystan Hawkins

Bolton