TROWBRIDGE Town Council has rejected 'land grab' attempts by its neighbours in Southwick and West Ashton.

It plans to continue its campaign to ensure that Trowbridge residents can have a town council for all of the town.

Councillors say it will include all the built-up urban areas which are not connected to their respective villages.

The move follows requests by councils in West Ashton and Southwick to have land within the Trowbridge town boundary transferred into their parishes as part of a community governance review being conducted by Wiltshire Council.

Lance Allan, the Trowbridge Town Council chief executive, in a report approved by its policy and resources committee, said that, if necessary, they will seek a further CGR when the Ashton Park urban extension is being built-out or if other areas of development take place on the edges of the current town boundary.

But Trowbridge Town Council recognises that this is unlikely to take effect before 2025.

The town council believes its proposal offers the best solution, within the guidance relating to a community governance review, to maintain the boundary between Trowbridge and North Bradley, until such time as the proposed development allocation in this area is more clearly defined.

Mr Allan added: "Notwithstanding this, the town council would be prepared to reluctantly accept that the whole of Trowbridge Drynham Division should be included in the Civil Parish of Trowbridge if Wiltshire Council is minded to consider this."

The council has rejected the proposals from Southwick and West Ashton parish councils as being contrary to government guidance on community governance reviews, saying they would be detrimental to community cohesion, would result in the creation of an anomalous boundary within the community of Trowbridge, would result in neighbours being in different parishes and that they fail to reflect the ‘no-man’s land’ between settlements or the most clearly identifiable natural boundaries.