Marlow’s mayor has welcomed the new county-wide unitary council for Buckinghamshire, saying there will be “many positive gains” from the decision.

Last November, secretary of state for housing James Brokenshire announced a single unitary council for the county, which will replace the current county council and four district councils, and be named The Buckinghamshire Council.

Cllr Chris Funnell, mayor of Marlow, has, this week, welcomed the announcement, saying: “I look forward to taking on more devolved responsibility for our town, to help and support our residents of Marlow.

“There will be much to be done in the coming months and we are ready to help deliver the next chapter in Marlow’s history.

“This is a key opportunity for us, and we will look at all areas across the town. I would particularly like to bring Higginson Park back into Marlow control with the right funding to go with it.

“I see the next few months as formative for Marlow’s continuing prosperity and growth.”

But there has been fury at the latest development in the county’s journey towards becoming a unitary authority, as it was revealed that the leader of the county council, Martin Tett, will take the helm of a new “shadow” authority set up to steer the transformation.

In a letter to all five councils sent on January 7, Mr Brokenshire confirmed a temporary ‘shadow’ authority will be formed, with all 202 current county and district councillors having a seat on the body and Mr Tett leading the 17-seat shadow executive.

Speaking at a meeting of Marlow Town Council’s full council this week, Cllr Suzanne Brown, who is also a Wycombe district councillor, said: “This is the first time that any unitary has been dictated to.

“Normally it’s a democratic process and there is a vote. So we are complaining to the secretary of state directly from all the districts and we are all writing to our MPs.

“We can’t do anything about having one unitary but we can certainly do something, hopefully, about who should lead it.”

Wycombe District Council said it has been decided that there will be 147 councillors in the new unitary authority, which would mean three councillors for Marlow instead of the current seven, according to Marlow's county and district councillor Alex Collingwood.