MANY have expressed concern over the loss of so many of Herefordshire's young people to the county and the lack of sufficient compensatory incomers of the same age group.

It is my view that this demographic problem would primarily be resolved by the establishment of a university within the county.

There may well be other factors, such as a perceived lack of leisure facilities, but this, surely, is the most significant one.

In my own local daily paper I read that Suffolk's £160million bid for a state-of-the-art university has won approval from the Government's Higher Education Funding Council.

The project is now the second highest priority on the Government's list of new higher education colleges, next to Cornwall.

Ipswich Borough Council has a key role in this ambitious project, which includes the creation of an education quarter in the town.

Is my native county uniquely inactive on this issue?

ALAN STREET,

Sudbury, Suffolk