CRITICS of plans to combine Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch under one big “super-council” are demanding a re-think on the issue.

In Christchurch, councillors insist moving the town back into Hampshire is an option.

And in Poole, an independent councillor has insisted there is no evidence that a majority backs the Future Dorset plans for a merged council.

Local government secretary Sajid Javid is “minded” to support the plans and will decide in January – but he also said “further steps are needed to secure local consent”.

Cllr Marion Pope, who quit Poole’s Conservatives last year, said: “I have asked Poole council what further steps are being taken to secure local consent; so far without reply.

“It should be remembered that less than three per cent of the population was consulted on the various options available. While it is possible to extrapolate from their responses a trend in favour of one particular option, that is clearly not evidence that a majority of the population consents to the proposals of Future Dorset. “I am more than happy to support the will of the majority, once I know what that is.”

The Merley and Bearwood councillor added: “It seemed to me that one way this could have been decided fairly early on about what people wanted was to hold a referendum. This was what the Liberal Democrats proposed but it was defeated by a huge Conservative majority.”

Christchurch’s Tory group wants to look into becoming part of a two-tier system under Hampshire County Council, as was the case before 1974.

Cllr David Jones said: “I believe it’s the settled and fixed opinion of a working majority of the council that we don’t want to go into Bournemouth. The question is, how can we achieve this if we’re going to have to change?

“The secretary of state asked for alternative proposals. If we were to propose a transfer to Hampshire, that would be an alternative proposal.”

Dorset County Council leader Cllr Rebecca Knox declined to comment on whether the Christchurch-Hampshire move would need approval from Dorset.

Poole council leader Cllr Janet Walton said in a statement: “The secretary of state’s reference to local consent refers to local councils working together, which is already well under way through the joint committees.”

She said Mr Javid had found the evidence before him “compelling and robust”.

“In addition, we can be really confident that, had we gone to the expense of asking every single resident in Poole, we would have received the same endorsement for the Future Dorset plan as we did from the independently conducted consultation. This is because, in the household survey, where any home had an equal chance of being selected to take part, the method used means that we know that 19 times out of 20, the results would have been the same,” she added.

“For Poole, that’s 74 per cent of people supporting change from nine councils to two, with the make-up of those councils proposed in Future Dorset being the most popular option amongst Poole residents.

“Similarly, for the open questionnaire, which any resident could complete, the results are strikingly similar."