CONTROVERSIAL plans for a breakaway parish are threatening to divide Amersham Town Council.

Chiltern District Council gave recommendation two weeks ago for Little Chalfont to break away from Amersham and form its own parish. Members of Amersham town council are now split on whether they should support the proposal and members are keen that the full impact should be investigated more thoroughly.

The move, which will have to be approved by the Department of Constitutional Affairs (DCA), would also see Chalfont St Giles lose 400 homes to Little Chalfont because of the resulting boundary change.

The council, which met on Monday, July 18, argued whether or not the bid by Little Chalfont is democratic and if people in the Amersham ward were given the full facts when they voted in a town poll in March.

Cllr Richard Williams claimed a decision like this would not be made in the business world and called for a greater investigation of the matter.

He said: "It's like merging two companies without seeing the books. It's absolutely ridiculous, we just cannot have an objective view."

Cllr Allen Tait defended the 18 per cent of Amersham residents who voted for the creation of a Little Chalfont parish.

He said: "I think it's rubbish to talk about 18 per cent and say that does not count. We have to abide by what the general opinion is."

Some members claimed that the low turnout of Amersham residents was due to their not being made fully aware of how the creation of a Little Chalfont parish would affect them.

Cllr Tony Weedon said: "The population of Little Chalfont are under the erroneous impression that it would be cheaper to have their own parish council."

The council agreed to meet informally on August 8 to allow time to fully investigate the implications of the breakaway.

Des Knowles, town council clerk, told the Free Press that an "unbiased, truthful and accurate statement" would be submitted to Chiltern District council, which will meet to discuss the plans again before they are finally submitted to the DCA.