ROADSHOWS are coming to Wellington and Wiveliscombe offering visitors the chance to give their views on proposals for a new single district council covering Taunton Deane and West Somerset.

Six roadshows are being held as part of a consultation across the two existing council areas to obtain people’s opinions on the new council proposal and provide the chance to learn more by talking direct to representatives from the authorities.

The Wellington roadshow is on Tuesday (January 17) at the town library from 10am-3pm and in Wiveliscombe at the Community Centre on Thursday, January 26, from 10am-3pm.

The consultation, launched in December 2016, will help inform the Secretary of State’s decision on creating a new council but is not a referendum or ballot.

Taunton Deane Borough Council and West Somerset Council have been working together for the past three years and, through joining management and sharing services, have achieved an annual £1.8m of savings.

Both councils now want to modernise and streamline council services and delivery to achieve significant savings and also propose to create a single new council, covering the current geographical areas of Taunton Deane and West Somerset.

Anyone interested can find out more and have their say on the new council proposal at the roadshows and by visiting the dedicated website, www.yournewcouncil.org, where an online comment facility is provided.

An information booklet has been produced available at council offices and at the roadshows. For further updates follow the councils’ Twitter accounts @TDBC and @wsomerset and check out Facebook pages.

Cllrs John Williams, leader of Taunton Deane Borough Council, and Anthony Trollope-Bellew, leader of West Somerset Council, said: “It is an established fact that all councils across the land are struggling with the severe reductions in Government grant funding – we have lost more than 40% of core funding since 2012.

“We have met this challenge so far by reducing administration and back office costs and by joining our workforces into a single team through our partnership agreement.

“There is only so far we can go with cost savings at present, so we are considering how we modernise and streamline what we do and how we do it.

“This, together with the proposal to form one district council covering the geographical area of the existing two councils, will deliver substantial savings to help maintain the vital frontline services we know people value. We urge you to respond to the consultation and let us know your views.”