TWO parish councils look set to be merged after one was left with no members after they all quit.

A meeting of Cheshire West and Chester’s Full Council takes place on Thursday where it is recommended to rubber-stamp combining Bostock Parish Council and Davenham Parish Council into a new Bostock and Davenham Parish Council.

The move comes following a community governance review of Bostock Parish Council initiated at its own request.

A report to Cheshire West and Chester said Bostock Parish Council currently had no elected representatives as all the previous councillors and parish clerk resigned due to what it said were ‘the challenges they were facing in keeping the parish council operating.”

As a result, the parish council is currently made up of Cheshire West and Chester borough councillors who have been appointed under the Local Government Act, as there were so many vacancies in the office of parish councillor that Bostock Parish Council was unable to function. They are supported by a neighbouring parish council’s clerk.

The report said that in November last year, Bostock Parish Council contacted Cheshire West and Chester, again outlining further difficulties it was still experiencing with recruiting new parish councillors.

It requested that a further review of its governance arrangements be undertaken with a specific request to look at merging with a neighbouring parish.

Bostock is a parish of a little more than 200 electors and has historically had a low membership. As a result of the review, a new combined parish council with nine councillors from Davenham and one from Bostock looks set to be created.

Ward boundaries will be slightly redrawn, meaning two properties on Fairholme Road will now be located in the parish of Davenham instead of Bostock.

Both parishes will otherwise remain the same, with the merger being confined to the actual councils rather than parish boundaries.

One alternative to the new proposals was to have annual meetings of residents, but a report to Cheshire West felt that was impractical.

It said: “Bostock parish could operate as a parish meeting which would require six electors to gather the residents of the parish at least annually to discuss matters pertaining to the parish.

“This is unlikely to be a viable option for similar reasons as recruitment to the office of parish councillor was challenging due to the low levels of interest in a parish role.”