A parish council has once again strongly rejected calls for a unified council for one of Wiltshire’s fastest-growing towns.

Melksham Without Parish Council says it is “totally opposed” to proposals from Melksham Town Council to merge the two councils made as part of a response to a Wiltshire Council request.

The merger suggestion was made by Melksham mayor, Cllr Jon Hubbard, because many of the hundreds of new homes being built in the town are located within the Melksham Without parish.

With more housing being built in Bowerhill, he says the rural barrier between the town and the without parish no longer exists and that one combined council is in the best interests of the community.

He added: “The town council has always believed that the best thing for Melksham is that town and parish should be merged.

“The world has moved on and we can no longer say that Bowerhill is separate. It is quite clearly part of Melksham and I think the time has come to take a more grown-up attitude towards this.”

The parish council’s vice-chairman Cllr John Glover said: “Our view is no different to before, we are totally against it.

“MWPC believe that the proposal of a merger by Melksham Town Council does not meet the Local Government Boundary Commission for England guidelines (Clause 114) that state “that Grouping or Degrouping needs to be compatible with the retention of community interests.

"It would be inappropriate for it to be used to build artificially large units under single parish councils.

"Melksham Without Parish Council serves the local villages around the town of Melksham, and has always prided itself on its local knowledge of, and sensitivity to, the concerns of its communities and its desire that the rural nature of the parish and the individual character of its constituent villages and communities are preserved.

"However, it does recognise that when a new housing development sits better within the parish of the Town Council then it should be transferred to them.

"It therefore stands by its offer to transfer the 100 dwellings at land to the north of Sandridge Common that have recently been built, and the 450 dwellings at land to the east of Spa Road that are to be build; to Melksham Town Council.

"It does not recognise that the same applies to Beanacre, Shaw, Whitley, Berryfield, Bowerhill, Sandridge, Redstocks, Woodrow and Outmarsh and believes strongly that these individual communities sit better within the existing parish boundary of Melksham Without.

"This complies with the guidelines of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE), in terms of preserving community cohesion, improving electoral representation and providing strong, clear, physical boundaries on the ground."

Under the proposals, the villages of Shaw and Whitley would retain their separate identities and have their own parish council but Beanacre and Bowerhill would become part of an enlarged Melksham Town Council.Wiltshire Council’s electoral review committee will make a decision as part of responses to local governance arrangements.