A REFERENDUM should be held to allow people to vote on the planned merger of two councils.

A last ditch effort is being made to halt the axing of Taunton Deane Borough and West Somerset Councils and to set up a new authority called Somerset West and Taunton Council.

Councillors from the two authorities voted in favour of the move at a special meeting on Monday.

The two councils are now waiting to see if Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Sajid Javid approves to the merger.

An on-line petition has now been launched calling on Mr Javid to defer his decision "to enable the electorate to express their view in a vote".

The petition, by Tony Sutcliffe, said the referendum could take place at the same time as the borough council elections in May 2019 "so that our citizens' fundamental rights to choose are exercised".

Mr Sutcliffe said: "On March 19, Taunton Deane Borough Council voted by a narrow margin to merge with West Somerset Council to create a new borough council.

"Since 2013, repeated assurances to the people in both boroughs have been made that each would remain independent.

"Although the two councils have been working to provide some services together in order to reduce costs, and utilising a common senior management team, it has always been maintained that the two groups would remain separate.

"This move to merge the councils contradicts the assurances given and is being taken without a democratic mandate from the electorate of either borough.

"Furthermore, the local paper ran a poll which showed the majority of people did not want the merger to take place.

"We must uphold democracy and stop this happening until the public can have a real say in the future of their councils."