Somerset: controversial poll opts for two-council future

Nearly two-thirds of people who voted in a controversial poll over local government reorganisation want their county run by two unitary authorities.

Somerset's four district councils held the £300,000 vote to gauge if there was support for their two-council proposal.

Communities secretary Robert Jenrick will ultimately decide if the idea is taken forward.

Somerset County Council, which wants just one local authority, said the poll was "deeply flawed" and "biased".

About 111,000 people took part, with 65.3% voting for the district councils' Stronger Somerset proposal.

Conservative MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset Ian Liddell-Grainger said Mr Jenrick "cannot afford" to ignore the vote.

"The Secretary of State might have preferred us all to go away and forget this referendum, but we didn't," he said.

The district councils want to form two unitary authorities, Western Somerset and Eastern Somerset Councils.

The results of the poll were announced in turn by the district councils' leaders on a weblink earlier.

Somerset's only Conservative district council leader, Duncan McGinty, said the vote had been really important for residents to have had an "opportunity to be heard".

"These changes that may lie ahead will affect residents' services and their quality of life for decades to come," he said.

The county council, which took no part in the poll, wants to dissolve itself and the four district councils - Mendip, Somerset West and Taunton, Sedgemoor and South Somerset - for business reasons.

It says having one council would "put an end to confusion for residents" and save up to £52.6m over five years, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Last month the district councils' vote was criticised by Mr Jenrick, who was angered further when a spoof website was referenced on a leaflet sent to voters ahead of it taking place.

A county council spokesperson said residents had already been asked for their views in the government's official consultation.

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