Plans to investigate scrapping ward areas in Denham were approved yesterday, despite calls to put the proposals on hold until a decision on the major authority shake-up in Bucks is announced.

South Bucks District Council’s governance and electoral arrangements committee met on June 26 to discuss calls to abolish the wards covered by Denham Parish Council in favour of one larger area.

A letter sent by the parish council said the current arrangement means the village is not equally represented – as seven councillors represent Denham North and Denham South, while just one represents Denham South West.

The letter stated: “It is difficult, under the current structure, to justify the argument for fair and equal representation because of the large variance in the number of electors across the three wards.

“Equally it is difficult to justify the need for three distinctly separate wards for a relatively small, compact authority area.

“Each of the councillors have knowledge and interest in the whole area and are not solely concerned with the small area they are actually elected to represent.

“The electorate also do not solely approach those councillors elected for their geographic area and rather approach either the person that has some experience in the issue they are raising or approach someone that they know that they can rely on.”

The councillors also discussed requests from Stoke Poges Parish Council to reduce the number of councillors, as well as the removal of wards covered by Farnham Royal Parish Council.

However Councillor Duncan Smith advised the council to wait until the Government makes a decision on plans to scrap the district and county councils in Bucks and create a ‘super authority’.

He said: “These boundaries are likely to be re-written in some form whether it is one unitary or two, or whatever happens.

“I would think there is good reason to delay this until we know we know what the unitary decision is, because even if we only exist for another couple of years, as is a possibility, we should be looking then to try and match what we believe the future unitary boundaries are so they fit with the parish and town boundaries.”

Despite cllr Smith’s concerns, plans to review the boundaries and number of councillors were approved after four members voted in favour and two abstained.

SBDC will now look to carry out a community governance review – during which the council will consult with residents affected by the potential changes.

If the plans are approved, it is expected the new ward boundaries will be in place by next year’s district council elections.