RESIDENTS of Laverstock and Ford could see their council tax bills rise by an average of £92 a year under proposed boundary changes.

Salisbury city councillors voted last week in favour of extending the city’s boundaries to take in all its neighbouring parishes, other than Wilton.

A typical Band D taxpayer in Laverstock pays a parish precept of £12.45. People in Salisbury pay £105.

The city councillors were responding to a consultation being run by Wiltshire Council, which will have the final say.

Elected representatives of Laverstock and Ford, including parish councillors and Wiltshire councillor Ian McLennan, are strongly opposed to a takeover.

But with about 2,400 houses in Laverstock and Ford, the city council stands to gain more than a quarter of a million pounds a year.

And with more development going on in the Old Sarum area, which is part of Laverstock ward, that figure will rise considerably.

City councillors argue that residents of nearby parishes use the city facilities without contributing towards their cost.

But Cllr McLennan says most of the city’s facilities, other than the crematorium, are actually run by Wiltshire.

And his voters do not want decisions about their semi-rural area being made by an authority where the majority of members represent the city.

A city council spokesman pointed out that it was Wiltshire, not Salisbury, that instigated the boundary review.

He said all the large towns in the county were going through the process and facing the same issues.