Okehampton Town Council is to formally petition West Devon Borough Council to look at reviewing the town boundaries to take in part of the current Hamlets parish.

A deputation from the town council will go along to the borough council meeting on September 27 to make a case for Okehampton Town Council incorporating newly built up areas which are currently part of the Hamlets Parish Council.

The decision was made at Okehampton Town Council on Monday night, after councillors heard that 435 members of the public had backed the town council’s petition urging a rethink.

Okehampton mayor Bob Tolley said: ‘I am delighted we were able to achieve the requisite number of responses in support of our boundary review. It does not mean the job is done, it obliges the authority to review our proposal and provide a decision within 12 months of receipt.’

The mayor added: ‘It does not have to support our recommendation to extend Okehampton’s boundaries to the urban edges of the town, they may, through their review consider other solutions. The only thing I would ask is doing nothing should not be one of them.

‘Although the various benefits to changing the boundary are well documented, I particularly feel that drawing those Hamlets residents into the Okehampton town boundary, in which they already believe they are, will give them a democratic interest as to how the town is run, and enable the town and surrounding area to access greater funding opportunities.’

The town council wants to see a new boundary to be looped around the wider town, to link the new housing estates on the east of the town with the historic town centre.

While the Okehampton Hamlets Parish Council has stated recently that it would only back a Community Governance Review as part of one for West Devon, Okehampton Town Council is in favour of a review of its boundaries and its neighbour as early as possible – with a view to immediate change.

The town council wants to keep the number of councillors at 14 – the current number– but increase the area to take in areas on the eastern side of the town and the new schools and business centre on the edge of the town.

They woud also remove the ward boundaries so councillors would simply serve the whole of the Okehampton area.

The town council points out that the the town has grown so much in recent years, the new residents in housing estates to the east of the town assume they are part of the town – whereas in fact they are in the Hamlets parish.

The council wants the new residents to contribute towards facilities maintained by the town council in the town centre for the use of all – Simmons Park, the public loos the skate park and BMX track, the cemetery and the new CCTV system aimed at curbing vandalism.

The town council also believes that an increase in the size of the parish council would have more clout to apply for grant funding.