At their meeting in September 2019 Marlborough Town Councillors expressed ‘an interest in a review of governance arrangements to include a possible merger of Marlborough with the parishes of Preshute and Savernake.’
That followed Wiltshire Council’s invitation to town and parish councils to lodge ‘expressions of interest…for possible changes of local governance arrangements’. Any expressions of interest had to be lodged with County Hall by 1 October 2019.
Such alterations to the local government map could include changing parish boundaries or the creation/abolition/merger or re-grouping of parishes.
In their discussion of this issue (9 September 2019), Marlborough Town Councillors put forward a number of positive reasons why they thought the merger of Savernake and Preshute Councils with the Town Council should be considered. These included:
- That residents of surrounding villages enjoyed the amenities in the Marlborough parish.
- The ability of very small parish councils to provide services to their communities.
- That Savernake Hospital and the nearby housing estate (Maurice Way) were currently within Savernake parish, although the perception was that they were more closely linked to the town of Marlborough.
- That smaller parishes might not be able to make the required 25 per cent contribution to improvements to highways via the Community Area Transport Group and other contributory schemes.
They also discussed whether new wards should be created (e.g. Manton) giving them dedicated Town Councillors, the financial implications to precept payments for smaller parishes if combined with other parishes, and that any proposed changes must be subject to public consultation.
It is clear that one underlying reason for the proposal is that as more services are passed down from Wiltshire Council, the Town Council needs more income from its share of Council Tax revenues – its ‘precept’.
The view of Savernake Parish Council is that the Town Council’s proposal should be rejected. A letter from the Chairman to parish residents stated: “…the main reason for this is the significant increase in council tax that would result. To give you an idea of what the change would mean to you, their precept for a Band D Council Tax property is £195.13, whereas the current Savernake Parish Council equivalent is £9.40.”
In December a survey of Savernake’s 220 parishioners received 72 responses evenly distributed among the parish’s three main areas. ”There was one expression of interest for joining Marlborough Town Council from one parishioner, and the other 71 all indicated their preference to remain part of Savernake Parish Council.”
One Savernake resident who has raised the matter with marlborough.news, said: “The Town’s reasons seem a bit on the bogus side. All villagers across the area use Marlborough – so why not merge Ramsbury in as well. What services would any larger Town Council provide to Savernake people?”
“And can you honestly ever see a Marlborough dominated Town Council voting a change in road markings on a back road near Cadley as a priority over a new traffic notice in Kingsbury Street? It looks to me like an old fashioned land grab.”
Preshute Parish Councillors have also been discussing the issue – at their meetings in October and November. They too are checking on parishioners’ opinions.
marlborough.news will be following developments closely.