AN MP is planning a “Dorset Conservative summit” to discuss how the county should be run after Theresa May signalled she wanted agreement on the issue.

Dorset’s nine councils are still waiting to hear whether the government will approve plans to replace them all with two powerful new authorities.

But with three local councils against the plan, Christchurch MP Chris Chope believes it is unlikely to win approval from local government secretary Sajid Javid.

In the meantime, the nine Tory county councillors in Mr Chope’s parliamentary seat have received a reply from the prime minister to a letter they sent her in August.

Mrs May says the Dorset proposals are being “duly considered”, adding: “I understand that conversations are now continuing between the affected councils and interested parties to see if, and how, an agreement can be reached that is supported by all of the councils.”

Mr Chope told the Daily Echo: “The prime minister’s obviously under the misunderstanding that such conversations have begun, but they haven’t.”

He said his plan for a meeting in Ferndown on Saturday, October 28, could be the “start of the conversation”.

Mr Chope said: “I’ve invited the nine council leaders, constituency chairmen and MPs to what we’re describing as a Dorset Conservative political summit, in order to see if we can break the deadlock over local government reorganisation.”

Christchurch, East Dorset and Purbeck councils all voted against the plans for two big new authorities, leaving the other six to press ahead with the plan, dubbed Future Dorset.

Mr Chope met Mr Javid recently and said: “At that time he made it clear that no decision is imminent and I think that reflects his desire to find a way through this.”

He said it could be possible to reach agreement on a way forward, including the idea of a “combined authority” which brings together all the councils in a partnership to deal with major issues.

“There are a number of areas where we could find agreement and one of them is to agree to go ahead with the combined authority, which all councils have signed up to, as well as the Local Enterprise Partnership. The application was put in July 2016,” he said.

He said other options might include a new Bournemouth and Poole council; a ‘super-council’ in the west of Dorset; and Purbeck joining the current partnership between Christchurch and East Dorset councils.