FIFTEEN Taunton Deane borough councillors whose High Court bid failed to halt their council’s proposed merger with West Somerset council have pledged to continue their fight.

Acting in a private capacity, the cross-party councillors last month applied for a judicial review but were turned down by Mr Justice Lewis and ordered to pay a total of £1,800 costs.

The councillors had based their claim on the apparent lack of consultation before the decision was taken to pursue merging the two authorities.

The judge ruled that the application was “both premature and academic” as protestors would have the opportunity to express their views before the Secretary of State for Local Government made the final decision.

As some of the councillors posed outside their Taunton headquarters with protest banners, a spokesman said: “£1,800 isn’t a lot of money collectively but most of the councillors are little more than volunteers.

“We made a principled stand against the injustice of the merger and its process through the two councils and we will continue to fight for transparency, true consultation and democracy.”

The spokesman claimed that no savings would be made as a result of the merger.

“There is also no mention of the cross subsidy by Taunton Deane taxpayers to restore solvency to the failing West Somerset Council, which means that the most disadvantaged in Taunton Deane will suffer more, and public services will be the victim of this merger.

“In addition, West Somerset only brings some £15 million of assets to the merger compared with Taunton Deane’s £347m. The defiance continues because there is no price on local decision making, which is clearly threatened by this flawed decision and the process which brought it about.”

Cllr John Williams, leader of Taunton Deane council, said: “It is a great pity the applicants chose to proceed with the challenge at great expense to themselves and, unfortunately, to the tax-payers of Taunton Deane.

“The consultation that they sought on the proposal was already planned as part of the submission to the Secretary of State who will make the final decision on the creation of a single new council.”

When the court bid was rejected, West Somerset Council leader Anthony Trollope-Bellew welcomed the decision, although his council had not been involved.

He said that, if a full judicial review had been ordered, it would have caused costly delays in the merger process.