A county council survey made public last week found more residents in Buckinghamshire supported plans for two councils in the county, as the “super council” debate rumbles on.

The study commissioned last year by pro-unitary Bucks County Council (BCC) has prompted district chiefs to question why the results were not published sooner.

The investigation carried out by Opinion Research Services last spring found that 67 per cent of the 1,000 residents contacted supported plans for two councils in Bucks – one for the north and one for the south.

Residents who backed plans for two unitary councils felt they would see an improved structure with better access to services and accountability, and some feared a single-unitary council would create “unmanageable” workloads for staff.

Leaders of the four district councils in Bucks, Neil Blake, Isobel Darby, Nick Naylor, and Katrina Wood, said they are “extremely disappointed” the findings were only recently made public.

In a joint statement they said: “Given that we’re facing the biggest changes to local services in Bucks for 40 years it’s extremely disappointing that such strong evidence, carried out by a reliable company, has not been shared with the public before now.

“We sincerely hope it’s been sent to the secretary of state before he makes a final decision which will affect residents for decades to come.

“Despite having to wait several months, these findings very much match what we are hearing on the ground from residents – that there is more support for two new unitary councils than for one.”

The investigation also found 75 per cent of Bucks residents who responded to the questionnaire, which was published on BCC's Future Bucks website, agreed there was a need to reduce the number of councils in the county.

Those who agreed said it is time for a “long overdue change” and felt reducing the number of councils would create significant savings and encourage more joined-up working.

However leader of BCC, Martin Tett, branded the survey as “old news”, and confirmed the results were sent to secretary of state for housing Sajid Javid for assessment.

He said: “This is really old news being ‘warmed up’. The key reason for this research was to establish that residents recognised and supported the need for change to a unitary structure, sweeping away both county council and district councils and creating new unitary local government.

“All of the research was supplied to the Government prior to its ‘minded to’ decision to support a new single unitary based on the boundaries of Buckinghamshire.

"The secretary of state was exceptionally clear in his statement that creating two small unitaries was not a viable model for this area.”

Last month Government backed county council plans to scrap the five councils in Bucks and create a “super council” – a move which was met with frustration from district council chiefs who have long-supported plans for two-unitary councils in the county.

To view the survey visit http://futurebucks.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2017-engagement-final-report.pdf

Residents have until May 25 to send their views on the plans to Government by emailing sajid.javid@communities.gsi.gov.uk