SO, Austin Mitchell has not given up his quest to make our part of Lincolnshire into that county over the river.

His claims, in particular his ridiculous assumptions that the only transport links from this part of Lincolnshire are westward along the A180 and the Doncaster railway line, are a joke.

We have two main railway lines that link up with the East Midlands and the south as opposed to one line linking into his home county.

As for the A180, we have the A16 and the A46, amongst others, also linking to the East Midlands and the south. Even the A180 becomes the M180 which in turn links into the national motorway network which leads to ALL parts of the country.

That is where our future prosperity lies. Not in a narrow thiefdom such as the projected (in Mitchell's eyes) "Humber Region" in which he probably sees himself as "King Austin the first" (and hopefully the last).

In this part of the country, Lincolnshire, we have always looked to our county seat Lincoln and the East Midlands, not a city over the north bank in a different county.

We do not need another disaster like the creation of "Blunderside" all over again, do we?

If we here in Lincolnshire need expertise from outside sources we are not just going to look in your home county, are we Mr Mitchell? Of course not. Look at the mistake we made when electing a son of that county to represent us in parliament! You know as well as I do that your welcome in this part of England has expired. And for some time too!

As for the regional development agency. If that had been centred on Lincoln I doubt we would have been any worse off, but I haven't taken into account the Whitehall mandarins who are still in love with the prospect of an expanded county centred north and west of the Humber. Just as yourself!

Do us all a favour, Mr Mitchell. Step down and return to your home county. We don't want your empire building here. Oh yes, Mr Mitchell, one of your favourite arguments in the creation of "Blunderside" was that Grimsby wasn't in Lincolnshire because it was a county borough in its own right. Lincoln was also a county borough, just like Grimsby, but they didn't pack it off to Nottinghamshire, did they?

Chris Walker, Simons Place, Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire.

The Telegraph says

How do you refer to where you live? This area has long had an identity crisis, which the much-hated Humberside only fuelled. But has anyone come up with a solution? One idea by North East Lincolnshire Council in 2007 to change its name to Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes Borough Council, because bosses said no one knows where we are, was rejected by residents. But we are simply not big enough to go it alone. Whilst North East Lincolnshire is an administrative county, and Lincolnshire is our historical county, we also have much in common with the north bank because of our ports and major Humber businesses. A new body to replace Yorkshire Forward could well, in the short space of time there is to propose a replacement, help or hinder our identity crisis. Perhaps there is no one solution?