I NOTICED in your paper (LET February 16) another reference to a South East Lancashire unitary authority in the context of Rossendale Council agreeing to the creation, in the event of a vote supporting regional government in the North West, of an authority which would include Rossendale, Burnley and Pendle.

My intention is not to criticise that resolution, which would have my full support. However, I do feel that the use of the phrase South East Lancashire to describe such a council is not beyond criticism.

The phrase is doubtless the product of some boundary committee official who does not understand either the geography or the history of our area.

South East Lancashire has been used, historically, to describe, among others, that part of Lancashire which contains Bury, Middleton and Manchester. Many readers will recall SELNEC, a term which was coined to describe South East Lancashire and North East Cheshire.

It was used for its combined bus service for a number of years in the 1970s.

The area now covered by Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale (together with Hyndburn, Blackburn and Ribble Valley) are correctly North East Lancashire, a name which describes the location of these places, both historical and geographic.

Manchester and Bury are still in Lancashire in that the County Palatine, which includes them, still exists. Neither of these places is served by the county council (and they are no doubt better for that), but they remain in South East Lancashire.

We in North East Lancashire should not countenance the use of a name which does not describe accurately where we are and has not been used historically for our area in the past.

Because it currently occupies the south east quadrant of the area which, for local government purposes, is controlled by the Lancashire County Council, is no reason for the name South East Lancashire to be used for our part of the county.

COUN ROGER FROST, Cross Street, Briercliffe, Burnley.