HUNDREDS of householders hoping to form their own parish were accused of bigotry by Milton Keynes councillors.
Now residents of Woughton on the Green, Woughton Park and Passmore have hit back at councillors for ignoring their wishes and rejecting their carefully-prepared submission.
The 393 homes are currently part of the massive Woughton parish, which includes Netherfield, Coffee Hall, Tinkers Bridge and Beanhill.
Campaigner John Baker said: “Those of us living in Woughton and Passmore get left out.
“We have a village green that’s hardly used for community events, a village hall that’s under-used and an allotment society that would like to be part of the community.
“We would like to run our own parish and our own affairs as a small rural community.
“The current parish boundary is too big. For us it is a case of small would be beautiful.”
Campaigners knocked on every single door to discover 98 per cent of people wanted a separate parish.
Residents then drew up their own detailed submission to be considered by Milton Keynes Council Parish Council Review Group.
The request was put to the vote at a full council meeting on Tuesday – and flatly refused,
“Labour and Lib Dem councillors ganged up to shoot down the proposal for no other reason but internal party politics,” said Mr Baker.
He said one councillor, Hannah O’Neill, described the desire to be severed from the rest of Woughton parish as bigoted.
“We are certainly not being bigots. We just want to be able to manage our owns affairs and run our own small community,” said Mr Baker.
“It was the democratic wish of residents to form a new parish. However, when democracy should have ruled, hypocrisy did.”
Now the residents plan to try again, packing the public gallery with even more people to get their point across.
“We won’t give up,” said Mr Baker.
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