AE:lm@nqmids.co.uk:LIAM MOAKES

A FIVE-YEAR battle to create a Kidderminster Town Council has ended in defeat.

The Charter Trustees of Kidderminster and Wyre Forest District Council was told of the decision by the Government's department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions on Monday.

However, there is widespread anger at the department's refusal of the application, which it feared would make Kidderminster "unduly dominant" within the district.

It signals the end of a campaign which gathered pace in 1998 when the required 10 per cent of the town's electorate pledged support to the bid for a town council and a petition was launched.

District council leader Mike Oborski said: "This is a real blow for the town and district.

"Everywhere else in Wyre Forest has its own town or parish council that has to be consulted on the issues affecting that specific area.

"Kidderminster issues can be discussed at Wyre Forest or county council level but always with councillors from other areas speaking, voting and deciding. We are being deprived of a democratically elected forum to deal specifically with Kidderminster."

However, Mr Oborski expects the fight for a town council to continue.

The first step in the battle will be an extraordinary meeting of the Charter Trustees at the town hall on Wednesday.

Kidderminster mayor Nigel Knowles said he was "deeply shocked" by the decision.

He said: "I don't think Kidderminster would have been too dominant over Stourport and Bewdley.

"The three towns would have worked well together and I am now looking forward to the Charter Trustees' next meeting when we can look where to move to on this issue."

A spokesman for the department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions said: "It might be the case that a large parish would not be unduly dominant if there were another huge town within the district.

"However, while Stourport is a reasonably sized town, Kidderminster's population of 56,000 nevertheless constitutes around 56 per cent of the district's population."