MPs: Bolster county names on maps to end confusion
CALLS to reinforce Britain’s centuriesold county borders on maps and road signs are being backed by MPs.
Campaigners say traditional boundaries have been blurred by the introduction of local council districts.
Politicians are now supporting calls for a law to strengthen old boundaries and restore county identities. The British Counties Campaign has compiled a list of more than 600 towns and villages which are considered by some to lie in more than one county. For instance, Wigan is considered by some to be in Greater Manchester, and others to be in Lancashire.
While there is confusion over whether Stokenchurch is in Buckinghamshire or Oxfordshire, and if Grange-Over-Sands sits in Cumbria or Lancashire.
In a letter signed by seven MPs, the campaign said a government bill was needed to ‘eliminate county confusion’.
It read: ‘Our 92 counties, many of them 1,000 years old, are a key part of our heritage as geographic and cultural reference points.
‘While in Northern Ireland county identity is clear, in England, Scotland and Wales the situation is blurred. Counties must be reestablished as standard references for cultural, sporting and other activities.’
The letter, printed in the Daily Telegraph yesterday, was signed by six Tory MPs and one from the DUP. Campaign founder Pam Moorhouse, 71, said: ‘The present Government is still wasting public money destroying the traditional counties against the wishes of the population.’