Angela Rayner will not investigate how Buckinghamshire Council arrived at its decision to refuse to create a ‘High Wycombe Town Council’ despite a majority backing parish representation, her office has said.

The deputy prime minister was urged last week to review Bucks Council’s ‘biased’ and ‘predetermined’ decision-making process in her capacity as the secretary of state for housing, communities and local government.

The call for a review came from Khalil Ahmed, chair of the High Wycombe Town Council Campaign Steering Committee, who wrote a letter to Rayner’s London office.

However, the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government said this week that it did not have the power to investigate how Bucks Council decided that Wycombe should not be given its own-parish level authority.

A spokesperson for the government department told the Bucks Free Press that the final decision to create a new parish council rested with Bucks Council.

They said: “If campaigners are dissatisfied with the decision reached by the principal authority, this decision can be subject to a judicial review.

“The government believes that these should remain local decisions. Our guidance sets out that it’s for local authorities to make a final decision on this. Therefore, we are not able to approve or reject these requests.”

Ahmed, a former mayor of Wycombe and general election candidate, told the Free Press that he was ‘extremely disappointed’ by the response from Rayner’s office regarding his letter about the formation of a new town council for High Wycombe.

He said: “What is even more frustrating is that this response was not officially communicated to me by the minister’s office, but rather, I had to learn about it through the Bucks Free Press. This clearly highlights a breakdown in proper communication channels.”

Ahmed added that ministers appeared to have ‘misunderstood’ his request, which he explained was not to simply question the decision of the local authority to deny the formation of a town council, but rather was based on what he called ‘concerns over procedural irregularities’ during the process

He said: “These irregularities merit serious investigation, and it is disheartening to see this point dismissed so lightly.”

Ahmed also said he was ‘deeply dismayed’ by the ‘inaction’ of Emma Reynolds, Wycombe’s Labour MP who was elected in July.

He said: “While she has publicly expressed support for the campaign, her actions have fallen short. If she genuinely wants to serve the community, she needs to actively challenge the flawed procedures that led to this unsatisfactory decision.”

Ahmed added that he and other members of the steering group were ‘determined’ to continue exploring legal avenues to challenge Bucks Council’s decision-making process.

The campaigner’s call for an investigation into the unitary authority comes after its Conservative councillors voted against the creation of a town council for High Wycombe last month.

Members said that the town’s existing governance arrangements, including its charter trustees, town committee and community board, were sufficient for giving the people of Wycombe a voice.

Their decision went against the wishes of the 60 per cent of Wycombe residents who backed a town council in a consultation, which saw a turnout of 4.6 per cent of the eligible electorate.

Those consulted were also asked whether they would be willing to pay for a new town council, with 46 per cent of people saying they were not willing pay, versus 43 per cent who were.

Campaigners and opposition councillors claimed the inclusion of this question about paying for a town council was inappropriate and designed to sway public opinion against a new parish authority, leading some to claim that the consultation was ‘biased’.

Those backing the town council claimed the 60 per cent majority was ‘statistically significant’ and should be respected.

But critics argued that the mood of Wycombe could not be gauged on such a poor turnout for such a well-publicised consultation.

Supporters of a ‘High Wycombe Town Council’ argue that its creation would give the town’s residents greater control over how their council taxes are spent and would take power back from Bucks Council, which is headquartered in Aylesbury.