ANY attempt to impose ‘super council’ plans on district councils “will end up in the courts”, an MP has warned.

Christchurch, East Dorset and Purbeck district councils have rejected proposals to reform the county’s nine local authorities into two unitary bodies - one comprising Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and the other the rest.

Leaders and senior officers of the nine councils are currently discussing the next step in the process.

On Tuesday, Bournemouth council leader John Beesley said a proposal would be presented to Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Sajid Javid later this month.

And yesterday Bournemouth council’s head of communications Georgia Turner tweeted: “@DorsetCC @BoroughofPoole & @bournemouthbc collectively represent whole of the county & all its residents - they support.”

However, Christchurch MP Christopher Chope said: “If Bournemouth and Poole still want to create a unitary why don’t they go off and create one between themselves, rather than try a hostile takeover of Christchurch?”

He said he hoped leaders would “decide against putting a divisive proposition to the secretary of state which will be very destructive for Dorset”, and would instead push the government to make a decision on the combined authority proposal “which has unanimous support right across Dorset”.

That plan, which was submitted in July last year, would allow Dorset’s councils to act together as a single authority on certain county-wide issues, including transport infrastructure and economic regeneration.

Mr Chope said both the existing urban unitaries and the county council were “able to solve these financial problems with their own resources”, criticising them for “artificially” keeping council tax low.

Also, he said, the government would be carrying out a funding review and establishing a new local government settlement in 2019 containing measures to reduce financial pressures on councils.

Advocates claim the super council plans, if enacted, would save Dorset around £108 million over the next six years. However, Mr Chope said: “The idea that this is going to allow all these savings is complete nonsense.”