RESIDENTS of two Cheshire parishes have been assured they will be in ‘good hands’ after a decision was made to combine their two parish councils.

Cheshire West and Chester Council had to step in and conduct a governance review of Bostock Parish council after all its members and clerk quit. Local borough councillors had to be appointed to take the reins in the interim under special government legislation.

But to try and solve the problem, the review concluded it would be better to combine Bostock Parish Council with Davenham Parish Council, with Cheshire West unanimously backing the measures at a meeting last night.

Addressing the meeting at Wyvern House in Winsford,  Cllr Andrew Cooper said the parish council had traditionally struggled to attract new members.

He told the meeting: “If you’ve never been there before, Bostock is a fairly small parish with around 140 households and a rather excellent pub and a tree that marks the exact centre of the historic county of Chester.

"It’s struggled for some years in recruiting parish councillors, tonight’s recommendations have been made following two consultations and are widely supported by the community.”

The new combined parish council with have nine councillors from Davenham and one from Bostock. Ward boundaries will be slightly redrawn too, meaning two properties on Fairholme Road will now be located in the parish of Davenham instead of Bostock.

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

Cllr Cooper added: “The ward councillors for the area would like to express their thanks to the officers for the way the issue has been conducted and assure that Bostock and Davenham will be in good hands with the new combined parish council.”

The vote was backed unanimously with 56 voting in favour and none against.