Plans to merge Warwick and Stratford district councils will take the focus away from the services people care about according to Green Party councillors.

On Monday Warwick District Council and its Stratford counterparts voted to combine the two councils to form a single South Warwickshire District Council.

But Green Councillors, who all voted against the proposals in Warwick, have criticised the plans saying there are bigger things that need attention right now.

Leader of the Greens at WDC Cllr Ian Davison said: "By pushing on with these merger plans, the Conservative-led administration seems to want years of reorganisation and rebranding rather than focusing on the real services people care about, recovering from Covid and dealing with the climate crisis.

"There are savings to be had from working with Stratford on practical things like bin collection, but these are happening anyway.

"Other potential savings like selling Riverside House and improving IT systems don't need this merger."

Green party members have also criticised a lack of detail in the proposals and said that the Tories could not fully account for the savings they were claiming.

"Despite repeated questions from the Green Party group, the Conservatives have not been able to itemise their claimed savings from a full political merger," added Cllr Davison.

"Years of cuts from Conservative central government means the council must find huge savings, but this political merger won't help. Instead, there's the danger that council staff who are worried about their jobs will now not focus so well on delivering services or saving money.

"It feels like we've entered a shotgun marriage where divorce is impossible when things don't work out."

Plans to merge the two councils will now be submitted to the Secretary of State at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities for approval.