VALE Royal Borough Council warmly welcomed the news that its proposals for the local government review are one of the principal recommendations from the Boundary Committee.

The committee unveiled three recommendations on Monday, with the third being Vale Royal's joint bid with five other district councils to create three unitary authorities in the county.

The development would see Congleton joining Macclesfield to form East Cheshire Council, Chester and Ellesmere Port and Neston joining to form Chester and Vale Royal and Crewe and Nantwich joining to create Mid or Central Cheshire joining Crewe and Nantwich with Vale Royal.

In a joint statement, the six district councils reaffirmed their unanimous support for the bid, adding: "We agree wholeheartedly with the Boundary Committee's concerns over a unitary option based on the county boundary.

"This puts a big question mark over the county council's ability to engage with all residents across a huge area."

The statement adds: "We urge residents to be sceptical about the county council's claims about the transitional costs of unitary councils, as the Boundary Committee says: "The county council's figures have not been audited by the Audit Commission and we have no view on this"."

And all six councils are now encouraging local people to make their views known to the committee.

Anne Bingham-Holmes, chief executive of Vale Royal Borough Council, said: "Obviously, we hope that local people will support our view that the three modern unitary councils for Cheshire will ensure continuity of local leadership, local control, local services and local choice - along with the most efficient and effective use of council taxes.

"But most importantly, people need to take part in this process - they should consider the options, think about them carefully and let the Boundary Committee know their views."