RE: "Town's number's up". In answer to Mr Sharrocks of Kearsley: it depends what you call a town! Some notion of community would seem to be required.

Bolton itself is clearly the central focus of Bolton Council. But the old county borough area represents only 60 per cent of the current borough's population.

Virtually the whole of the borough has a Bolton address and postcode; it is a real community.

Indeed, the boundaries of Bolton could be further extended, and still enclose a meaningful area.

This could hardly be said of Wigan borough, which is a forced marriage of two areas: Wigan and Leigh. There is not even a direct road between the two!

Wigan is not a focal point for the latter area, particularly Atherton and Tyldesley.

For us, Bolton is nearer, more attractive, and more convenient. It is "our" town.

Wigan itself has a population of just 76,000. A realistic appraisal of its area of influence would give around 200,000.

Bolton's, by contrast, would give a population around the 340,000 mark - comparable with Leicester or Coventry, and bigger than Cardiff.

Andrew Bowyer

Fallowfield Way

Atherton