A town in Pakistan has asked to become a twin of Chesham.

A civic forum group based in Bhalwal, in the Punjab region, sent an official communication to Chesham Town Council asking if the Bucks town would consider entering into a formal twinning arrangement.

Council members were broadly in favour of setting up a link with the Pakistani town when they discussed the possible twinning at a Town Hall meeting last week.

But they said any arrangement should not be made at the taxpayers' expense, and the council should look for an alternative way of funding the link-up.

Cllr Mo Fayyaz - who was approached by members of Chesham's Muslim community asking about a twinning project, as many of them have family originating from the area around Bhalwal - said he believed much of the money could be put up by the town's mosque.

Councillors also said the Chesham Town Twinning Association should be approached to see if the group would be interested in co-ordinating the venture.

The policy and resources committee, which discussed the proposals last week, said setting up a less formal ‘friendship link’ with a town where many of its residents came from would be a good project to get involved with.

Members agreed that town mayor Peter Hudson and Cllr Fayyaz should liaise with the chairman of the Chesham Town Twinning Association and other local authorities to investigate potential costs and staffing hours required to set up a twinning or ‘friendship’ link with Bhalwal, and report back to the council with their findings at a future meeting.

Chesham already has three twin towns - Houilles in France, Friedrichsdorf in Germany and Archena in Spain.