High Wycombe should have its own town council if the county adopts a unitary authority, councillors have demanded.

At an emergency Wycombe District Council meeting on Monday night, councillors overwhelmingly voted to support the districts’ plan to introduce two unitary councils to replace the five district and county councils in Bucks.

However, some councillors, including Labour Disraeli ward representative Khalil Ahmed, refused to vote for the new plan unless a town council for High Wycombe was promised.

Lib Dem councillor, Ray Farmer, also agreed that despite being the biggest town in the south of the county, High Wycombe does not have a “voice.”

 He said: “I have had to really think about whether I can support this decision, and that really saddens me because I have been batting for this for a lot longer than anyone.

“I'm really glad that this is coming, but there is one part that is going to get left behind. We end up with an unparished ward of High Wycombe that can only make recommendations to a cabinet.

“Decisions are being made by cabinet members from Marlow, Tylers Green, Princes Risborough. In this new unitary, we will have these decisions made by people from Farnham Common, Amersham, Gerrards Cross.

“We need to set up a town council. It would give the people of High Wycombe a voice. Who would the unitary give their grass cutting and hedge cutting to without a town council?”

Although praising the work of the High Wycombe town committee over the years, cllr Farmer argued that a town council is the only way forward.  

Cllr Matt Knight denounced the lack of a town council as a “long-standing embarrassment.”

He said: “Bucks has been controlled by a single political party for over 150 years. This seems like a deliberate attempt to avoid localism due to a fear of a potential change in political control.

“This issue is not addressed in the report, except for a tired defence of the High Wycombe town committee.”

However, cllr Tony Green, chairman of the committee, said he thought they had done a “good job over the years.”

He said: “I fully support the process of keeping the status quo and keeping the committee instead of becoming a town council.

“There are ways that the town committee could be given more responsibilities under a new council and I will push for this to happen.”

Leader of the council, Katrina Wood, said the cabinet takes an "umbrella view" over the whole district, and where they cover is less important "because we care about the whole area." 

She added: "The Bucks County Council report doesn’t state a town council either, so to not support one just because it doesn’t state they will guarantee a town council is a rather weak argument and does your residents a disservice.

"Some of the detail has not been decided, some of it will be made by the new unitary council when we get there."