IT has always amazed me how the boundaries that form this borough came to be. There doesn't seem to be any logic about it.

If you go from east to west, for example, the Heap Bridge-Prettywood area comes under Rochdale MBC, though it is quite obviously a part of Bury. In the south is Prestwich, which relates more to Manchester. In the north is Ramsbottom, which is in the Rossendale Valley.

The only tenuous link these areas have to one another is the River Irwell, not the "town" of Bury. So why does Bury itself get the largest proportion of investment and the most improvements, way in excess of its population and importance? Many residents, especially on the periphery, hardly ever set foot in Bury town centre. The other towns that make up this borough are not satellites to Bury, they are towns in their own right and while millions of pounds is spent on Bury town centre, Whitefield, Radcliffe and Prestwich are left to a slow, lingering decline.

It is quite obvious that most of us are losing out to Bury. Perhaps one small way of ensuring we all got a fair share would be to rename the borough and take the emphasis away from the town of Bury.

Our near neighbours to the north in Hyndburn have just had a referendum on their name. Hyndburn Borough is made up of the large town of Accrington and various smaller ones, such as Great Harwood and Oswaldtwistle. The people of Accrington wanted the borough's name to be changed to theirs. However, democracy won the day and it remains Hyndburn.

Bury MBC asked for our views on how its assembly was to be set up , so how about asking us by what name we should go by. Irwell Borough Council maybe?

NON-BURYITE