UNDER the Urban District Council system of local Government, the local town hall was within walking distance or, at the worst, a few minutes bus ride away.

Once there, all the principal offices could be accessed.

This Westminster abolished, replacing it with an inferior product in the shape of the Metropolitan Boroughs, eg Bolton, on All Fools Day 1974.

What follows is an extract from HA Leicester's Worcester Remembered 1935, "It may be that, after perusing this sketch of the government of Worcester in the past by Chiefs, by Bishops, by Earls, by Guilds, by Bailiffs, by Charters, by Acts of Parliament and by Social Councils and Mayors, the reader may live to see, in the near future, a governing body by State officials dominated and dictated by resident officers, whose main idea will be to spend the largest possible amount of local rates, securing to themselves a large army of assistants, huge salaries, and a plentiful supply of leisure, accompanied with a status of importance for exceeding that enjoyed by any of the previous governors of the City. It is hoped, however, that this prophecy may not be fulfilled."

Today, a commonplace.

A Regional Assembly? - Definitely not!

T T Riley

Dixon Street

Westhoughton