FUTURE plans to parish Kidderminster, which could see the return of proposals to create a town council, will be discussed at a meeting later this month.

District councillors have agreed a session should be held at Wyre Forest House on Wednesday, March 26, to consider a report due to be published by a working party set up last year when a review into creating a Kidderminster Town Council was abandoned.

The 10-member cross-party working group, chaired by Independent Community and Health Concern leader councillor Graham Balllinger, has met twice since last July - in November and January - and has looked at a number of options into the future of governance in Kidderminster.

According to a report put before all 42 Wyre Forest councillors at a meeting on Wednesday last week (Feb 26), the group has looked at both making no change from the current Charter Trustees and initiating another review into setting up a town council.

It said it would not be legally possible to parish Kidderminster without creating a town council because the area has more than 1,000 electors.

The group has also discussed creating a separate development trust and area planning committee and says district council policy could be changed so Wyre Forest's spending in the town on matters paid for elsewhere by parish councils - such as in Bewdley or Stourport - would be charged only to council taxpayers in Kidderminster.

No decisions have yet been made and none are likely to be at the March meeting as councillors will consider the working group's recommendations in public for the first time.

In July last year, the majority of councillors voted to abandon the long running town council project when results of a consultation found the public were against the proposal. The working group was set up following the decision to consider future options.