A WILTSHIRE councillor says the Laverstock, Ford and Old Sarum parish is being seen as a “cash cow” by Salisbury City Council, which is pushing for a review of boundaries.

The issue was raised at a meeting of Salisbury City Council on January 20, when Cllr Colin Froude suggested the city should expand to absorb new housing in and around Laverstock, Ford and Old Sarum.

Cllr Froude said: “Salisbury city is expanding rapidly with a significant number of large new housing developments.

“The majority of this new housing lies immediately adjacent to, and in some cases actually straddles, the archaic parish boundary which marks the city limits for collecting the parish precept.”

He said the result was that some city resident would be paying the high precept, which wass rising to £105, while their neighbours paid a lower village precept, about £12.

Councillors agreed to urge Wiltshire Council to complete a boundary review as a matter of urgency.

But Cllr Ian McLennan, who represents the ward, said the issue is being looked at solely in terms of the city council’s precept, and not by democratic representation. He said his ward should have two councillors to accommodate the extra housing instead.

“The first thing to say is that no parish can take over another parish or community without good reason. “Trying to rob them of their jewels and savings is not one of the criteria,” he said. “So what do we get for our £105?

“Our eventual trip to the crematorium (where we pay anyway), a trip to the Guildhall (which we pay to hire anyway, and access to the parks. Everything else is provided by Wiltshire Council or the businesses.”

He added: “At the moment it looks like they’ve got a cash cow there for the taking.”