§ Mr. Tim Devlin (Stockton, South)I beg leave to present this petition on behalf of the townspeople of Thonaby-on-Tees in my constituency. Thornaby is a town comprising 24,000 people. I estimate that the petition contains about 6,000 signatures. The petition declares:
that Thornaby is not a postal town and is to become part of the new Unitary Authority of Stockton Borough; that for cultural and ceremonial purposes Thornaby, being south of the River Tees is to revert to North Yorkshire; and that Thornaby should not be addressed as "Stockton, County Durham".The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons declare Thornaby-on-Tees a postal Town in its own right, thus giving its citizens the equal and official right already enjoyed by their fellow citizens in the other Towns of Stockton Borough to give their own town's name as their address and to establish a Town Council so that the Town maintains its identity in spite of being part of Stockton Borough.I hope that the petition will in due course be given careful and sympathetic treatment by the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department managing the Post Office.
§ To lie upon the Table