THE leader of Wiltshire Council has defended the authority, after campaigners in Buckinghamshire suggested it was failing after becoming a unitary authority in 2009.

Writing in a post for the Local Government Chronicle, Jane Scott wrote that “going unitary helped Wiltshire navigate austerity’s choppy waters a great deal more smoothly”.

Baroness Scott criticised district councils in Buckinghamshire, who are campaigning against a unitary authority for their own county, after they used Wiltshire as an “example of a struggling council” when “the evidence completely refutes them”.

“The new council in Wiltshire allowed us to exceed our targets, delivering over £100million of savings. We created a new type of council capable of marrying strategic scale, efficiency, greater democratic accountability and better local decision making; far from the struggling council depicted by some in Buckinghamshire,” she wrote.

“Speak to any councillor and they will tell you they wouldn’t turn back the clock – and that includes former district council leaders. Talk to any MP, and they will tell you how we have been able to maintain frontline services at a time of severe financial restraint.

"Talk to any business leader, and they will tell you a single council has allowed us to work constructively with our all our partners to promote our economy and secure investment.”

It comes as government continues to axe district councils to make savings throughout the country. The council leader, who supports the proposals, previously came under fire in 2016, when she told the House of Lords that merging Wiltshire’s four district councils had led to “efficiencies” of £150million.

These include closing children’s centres, upping parking charges, slashing youth funding, introducing charges for green bins and reducing tip opening hours.