A COUNCILLOR’S bid to ask residents if they want a town council for Clacton has been rejected.

Tendring Council discussed a motion put forward by Rush Green ward councillor Mary Newton last week.

She called for a Community Governance Review to consult residents with a view to creating a new Clacton Town Council, including Clacton, Jaywick and Holland-on-Sea, to come into effect in 2023.

Councillors rejected the motion by 29 votes to 16.

Council leader Neil Stock said: “If there was any evidence whatsoever that the people of Clacton wanted a town or parish council, I would happily support them.

“Setting up another level of bureaucracy, another layer of local government, for Clacton will have a cost associated with it.”

Mrs Newton said her motion was intended to ask the people of Clacton whether they want a town council.

She added: “Town and parish councils achieve benefits that we as residents of Clacton cannot get, because we don’t have anybody to ask for it.”

St Mary’s ward councillor Mark Stephenson added: “Clacton hasn’t got a voice and it never will have unless we give people the chance to have one.”

A previous bid in 2016, put forward by former councillor Jack Parsons, also failed to gain enough support.

Unlike smaller towns in the Tendring district, Clacton, Holland-on-Sea and Jaywick do not have their own town council, but are administered by the district council.