Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

Local views sought on local government.
Along with Kennet and Salisbury District Councils, the authority is strongly opposed to the county council's bid for unitary status, which would create one huge council to run all services across Wiltshire.

Andrew Pate, West Wiltshire's chief executive, said: "The county council has said it wants to do the best thing for the people of Wiltshire, yet it has not asked the people of Wiltshire what they actually want. We have always been clear on how we want to move forward, and we are now developing that into a case for the Secretary of State. We want to involve local people in this, which is why we are organising these discussions."

Local businesses have been invited to a consultation event, and another has been set up for town and parish councils. Individual meetings are also being planned with a range of individuals and other organisations.

Mr Pate said: "We want to know what people think about how they want their local council to operate. We have already sent some draft proposals to the Secretary of State, which can be found on our website at unitary council news - we also have an on-line petition form where people can show their support for retaining the district council, and we are inviting specific comments via communications@westwiltshire.gov.uk"

He added: "West Wiltshire is opposed to unitary status for the simple fact that we don't see it providing better services for local people. The county council believes there are savings from becoming a unitary, yet independent research has found major flaws in their financial case. They have based the main part of their case on centralising services and removing local democracy, but this will probably result in a remote and unaccountable authority. We believe the chances are that this would be a massively expensive reorganisation that hits people's pockets hard and delivers major disruption and little else."