A PARISH council that few people wanted will continue to have a name that few people can remember after its request to rebrand was blocked.

The Central Swindon South Parish Council (CSSPC), one of a number of new authorities created as part of the controversial parishing project rolled out earlier this year, had sought approval to change its name to South Swindon Parish Council.

At a meeting of the CSSPC held on June 20, chairman Chris Watts advised that “the public found the current name of the council too complicated” and that they “had difficulty remembering the correct order.”

After opting to request that the name be changed to the much simpler South Swindon format, a consultation was carried out where the views of the public, ward councillors, adjacent parish councils and Robert Buckland MP among others were sought.

Of the 13 responses to the consultation received, all but one was content to allow the name change to take place.

But despite that support, when it came before the borough council to be approved on Thursday, the ruling Conservative administration was able to use its majority to turn the request down.

Outlining the objections of his party, council leader David Renard said: “The concerns of the Conservative group on this particular issue are that we can’t find any members who were consulted on it. Indeed the first I knew of it was when the report appeared in the order papers and so we don’t believe there has been a proper consultation.

“There is also a concern around the change of name which implies that there is a coterminosity between the parish council and the South Swindon constituency which clearly there isn’t.”

Oliver Donachie (Con - Haydon Wick) said that other parishes geographically located in south Swindon, but not part of the CSSPC area, would feel aggrieved by the name change. He listed Wroughton, Liddington, and Chiseldon among others.

Yet in the consultation that preceded the formal name change request, two individual Wroughton parish councillors and Liddington Parish Council itself supported the proposal compared to just a single Wroughton parish councillor who objected.

The move to oppose the name change request was met with disbelief by members of the opposition parties.

Lib Dem leader Stan Pajak said the ability of the administration to throw out decisions made locally called the entire parishing project into question.

“This is about democracy,” he said. “The parish council voted for this name. If you cast this aside, why bother with parishes at all?”

Chris Watts, Labour borough councillor and chairman of CSSPC, added: “When the parishes were created its fair to say it was against the will of the majority of the people of Swindon.

“We picked up the gauntlet and I’m glad to say that we have all worked together in a non-party political way and we’re doing a good job.

“This is one of the first tests for the borough council. We consulted on it with the public and we voted on it unanimously - Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem members.

“We’ve voted on this - it’s not just our view. People can’t even remember the name now.”

His concern was echoed by fellow Labour councillor, Kevin Small, who said the current name was “gobbledygook”.

Coun Watts said that once it became clear the Conservative administration had issues with the name change he had asked for it to be withdrawn from the agenda until a future meeting to allow discussions to take place rather than see it voted down. But his request was rejected, a move he said had “treated my position as chairman of the parish council with contempt”.

Those Conservative councillors present voted unanimously to reject the name change request.

It remains to be seen if Central North Swindon Parish Council, which had been intending to pursue a similar name change, will still do so at a future meeting.