VILLAGERS fear that a proposed council merger could lead to the needs of rural constituents being forgotten by urban policy makers.

The concern among residents of Samlesbury and Cuerdale surrounds the proposed merger of Preston City and South Ribble councils to form a combined unitary authority.

Preston City councillors have agreed unanimously to their preferred option for the merger.

However, strong opposition to such a merger, currently up for consultation until autumn, is coming from Samlesbury and Cuerdale residents.

They are pressing for a merger with Ribble Valley Borough Council in the local government shake-up.

The villages' 900 residents fall within the boundary of South Ribble but claim that if they were governed by Preston authorities their rural needs would not be met.

Samlesbury and Cuerdale Parish councillor Glenn Clayton said: "Preston is an urban district and has no understanding of rural con-cerns. Geographically we are Ribble Valley and a community which wants to be associated with another rural area."

The leader of South Ribble Council, Coun Howard Gore, said: "A unitary council covering South Ribble and Prestonwould give residents more opportunity to influence key services such as education, social care and highways."

Ribble Valley Borough Council's preferred option is to stay as it is. A spokesman said that while it was keen to have an efficient working relationship with other councils it would not be seeking to merge with South Ribble.

"There's significant evidence that unitary councils are more effective than the two-tier system that currently exists in South Ribble.