Sir, The Westmorland Gazette (Briefly', July 9) says that in the referendum to be held on November 4 there will be two options: to choose between Cumbria and Morecambe Bay as a one-tier authority.

This is not correct. The referendum (before postponed) was to decide whether or not there should be a regional assembly for North West England, as defined by the government. Only if the establishment of an assembly is approved will there then be a choice about a lower-tier authority.

It is clear from the powers to be vested in it that any regional authority would simply be a glorified county council, while the next tiers, whether Cumbria or Morecambe Bay, would be equivalent to the present district councils. Thus, decision-making and so democracy would be removed further from the local area.

Furthermore it cannot be doubted that in a North West region decision-making would favour the urban conglomerations of Manchester and Merseyside. Rural areas would become peripheral.

If the government is determined to appoint regional assemblies, Cumbria should become a region in its own right.

Unlike the proposed North West Region, Cumbria has a distinctive character which transcends its various parts, and a sense of identity that long predates the local government reorganisation of 1974.

If it is urged that Cumbria is too small an area to be viable, it may be argued that there are many smaller regions and even sovereign states which function very efficiently.

For all these reasons it is important to vote No' to absorption in the proposed North West Region.

John Campbell Kendal