Boundary change is highway robbery, says councillor

Zerny said government guidance indicates that any standalone unitary council should have a population of at least 500,000

The leader of a council has described the possibility of a local authority taking land from a neighbouring county as "highway robbery".

Adam Zerny, from Central Bedfordshire Council, said Huntingdonshire District Council documents showed that Roxton, Wyboston and Chawston, Tempsford, Everton and Sandy, all in Bedfordshire, could be absorbed into a new Cambridgeshire authority.

Councillors have been discussing how local authorities should be replaced with newly created unitary authorities.

Huntingdonshire District Council said it was not "currently proposing any boundary changes".

Zerny, an independent councillor, said government guidance indicated that any standalone unitary council should have a population of at least 500,000, but Huntingdonshire currently has about 186,000 residents.

A Huntingdonshire District Council report said that construction of a new town in Tempsford, Bedfordshire, would have about 317,000 residents by 2040, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Zerny said Central Bedfordshire Council and Bedford Borough Council were not approached before the document was published.

In a letter to Sarah Conboy, a Liberal Democrat councillor and the executive leader of Huntingdonshire District Council, Zerny said: "I am left with the impression this land grab appears to be an attempt to justify the idea of Huntingdonshire as a standalone local authority, rather than what it should be – an effort to benefit local residents.

"Little did I expect to see a modern day highway robbery being proposed so close to us."

Conboy said: "As part of the government's plans for local government reorganisation, we're exploring a range of options, including a standalone unitary authority for Huntingdonshire known as Option E.

"We're not currently proposing any boundary changes as part of Option E – references to Tempsford simply form part of wider analysis looking at how to support sustainable growth and effective local services.

"These options are exploratory and intended to inform future discussions about how best to manage growth and deliver effective governance in the long term."