SIR — Further to your coverage of the merger between West Somerset and Taunton Deane Borough Councils in last week’s Free Press, I feel the situation has moved such in the last week that it is worth updating my constituents in West Somerset as to the present situation.

When this started, the Government of the day made it clear that the best way forward for both West Somerset and Taunton Deane was to talk to their neighbours, which means that there should at least have been a conversation between West Somerset, Taunton Deane and Sedgemoor.

This was not done because Taunton Deane had no wish to involve another council and that quite simply is, to say the least, disingenuous.

Unfortunately, West Somerset councillors were asking questions of Taunton Deane as to when they had the last contact with Sedgemoor. I wrote to Sedgemoor immediately and asked them to answer this question, which they did, and sent the letter on to councillors in West Somerset.

On the back of that, and Taunton Deane now realising that the game was up, they have at the 11th hour invited Sedgemoor to talk to them.

This simply is not an acceptable behaviour.

The whole point about this is to safeguard services and the future for West Somerset.

This week the announcement about Hinkley Point is being made, but the benefits should not go to Taunton.

We need to safeguard not only the services for local people, but the Hinkley money and also the future of West Somerset as a geographical area before they take any role in running it.

You do not have to look very far to see that the services that should be provided by the district council have not been happening, such as public toilets and other fundamentals.

We now have a situation which needs to have a proper three-way conversation.

The Government has made it very clear that this is what is preferred and has always done so, because it has always realised that the finances of Taunton Deane do not bear scrutiny and never will do and that their financial black hole and the use of their reserves to fund vanity projects is going to end in tears with no guarantees for anybody.

I am in touch with the Government to make sure that, if required, the Boundary Commission can come in and look at the three councils, not just two, at the same time they are looking at the parliamentary boundaries.

The Government has been very clear on its views and I will absolutely make sure my constituents in West Somerset, who are going to be the most affected in this because of loss of services in the future, have got a proper say in this matter.

I will be taking people’s concerns to London to a meeting with the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government and the Minister of State for Local Government.

I hope that people will let me have their views individually or via their parish council and I will make sure they are passed on.

Ian Liddell-Grainger,

MP for Bridgwater and West Somerset.