THE news that people were scrambling to buy property in the well-heeled area of Beardwood, Blackburn, should come as no real surprise to people who live in East Lancashire.

There are many such spots right across the area which help to give us such a great quality of life.

We believe that there still is a North, South divide. But these days it is in reverse.

Here in the North we enjoy a better quality of life than those who struggle through endless traffic jams and squash on to overcrowded trains and buses every day in the South East.

And we pay far less for the privilege.

But, if the word spreads too far, there is a danger of southerners coming up here in droves to snap up properties in our pleasant areas.

At the moment most of them are labouring under the misapprehension that we all lead lives similar to the characters in Coronation Street.

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