MARLOW'S community spirit and identity is under threat from plans to draw up new boundaries for electing councillors, an ex-Mayor claims.

Voters were asked their views earlier this year on proposals affecting elections for the area's largest and most powerful authority – Buckinghamshire County Council – which has a £319m revenue budget.

Currently, Marlow votes in two councillors to BCC – which is responsible for roads and education.

But The Local Government Boundary Commission for England report states: “Marlow Town has too many electors for one county councillor and too few to be allocated two.”

The changes put forward would mean placing a large area of the town lying to the east of Glade Road and north of the railway line into a new Flackwell Heath, Little Marlow and Marlow South East electoral district.

Writing on behalf of The Marlow Society, ex-Marlow Mayor Derek Done blasted the idea.

Mr Done, also the former Wycombe District Council Planning Chairman, said: “This means that residents of that area will find it much more difficult to pursue at county level a united case for action on matters that affect all Marlow residents.

“The society believes the proposed changes are ill conceived and would have a detrimental affect on the spirit of community in Marlow.”

Also on the cards is a possible alteration to Marlow Town Council's electoral areas, with the existing Marlow South East ward split into two.

Mr Done wrote: “The Marlow Society believes that these proposals would lead to a further blurring of the sense of community identity that has already resulted from redrawing the parliamentary constituency boundaries to place Marlow alongside Beaconsfield, a town with which Marlow has no shared history.”

He highlighted a 1993 survey as evidence for Marlow's “strong sense of community”.

“This showed that a much higher proportion of the residents of Wycombe district felt that they were a part of Marlow than was signified by their actual address,” he said.

“19 per cent felt they belonged to Marlow compared to the nine per cent of the population who actually lived in the town.”

LGBCE spokesman Marcus Bowell said changes “should ensure electoral equality – each county councillor representing roughly the same number of electors - so that the value of your vote is roughly the same regardless of where you live in Bucks.

“We will also seek to ensure that the new electoral divisions reflect, as far as possible, the interests and identities of communities in Marlow and across the county.”

Final recommendations will be published in January, considering all views already submitted to the commission, including from The Marlow Society, Marlow Town Council and BCC.