A 'pointless poll' referendum that could cost Trowbridge more than £20,000 has been criticised by the town council leader.

The motion would require the town council to organise a parish poll costing £20,000-plus each time it needs to increase its share of the council tax precept by more than three per cent to protect or enhance services.

The referendum was pushed through by 28-24 votes by local residents who attended the annual town gathering on Tuesday.

Former town mayor, Dennis Drewett, who stood as an independent, was among those who backed the motion.

Afterwards, Tory councillor Antonio Piazza said: “In this election cycle we have seen an increase of 20 per cent and then 10 per cent from Trowbridge Town Council.

“I know that, regretfully, I cannot trust the councillors to show restraint in spending and increasing our taxes. It is absolutely necessary now to give the people of Trowbridge back the power to make decisions.

“We now await verification from the Returning Officer, Terence Herbert, at Wiltshire Council to call the parish poll.”

The move was condemned by Liberal Democrat town councillor Chris Hoar, who accused local Tories of ideological vandalism and of wasting taxpayers’ money.

He added: “In other words, the Tory’s are slashing services at county level and also now trying to find any way they can to make it impossible for the town council to step up and keep some of those services going for the community.

“A lot of people say 'why can't the town council work together? It shouldn't be political'.

“Pretty much all of us will work with anyone, regardless of party or none if they are working for what is best for the town, but this is just ideological vandalism.”

LibDem town council leader Stewart Palmen said: “This poll will have to be conducted by Wiltshire Council and will cost upwards of £20,000 pounds of taxpayers' hard-earned money and is a purely advisory poll which the town council can ignore if it chooses to do so.”

“Inflation is currently running at 10 per cent thanks to Cllr Piazza’s Tory party mismanagement of the economy so this would likely mean that if we adopted this policy there would be a cut in services. Nowhere does Cllr Piazza explain where the cuts should be, but instead makes unproven allegations about the town council fiscal management.

“The town council is working hard to make Trowbridge a county town that the people of Trowbridge can be proud of so has taken on the responsibilities of cleaning the town and maintaining the green spaces.

“Cllr Piazza has, in fact, been praising the work done in his ward by our neighbourhood services team which is rank hypocrisy as he voted against the service transfer that has enabled us to do this work! If he had had his way we would simply see our town deteriorate further.

“Thanks to Cllr Piazza who has cavalierly wasted tax payer money on a pointless polling exercise when in all honesty the only poll that will have an effect is the election in May 2025, when the people of Trowbridge will be able to choose between councillors successfully working to make our town a greener, more vibrant and active town or those with no vision who want sack staff to save money and watch our town go down the toilet.”

Trowbridge Town Council’s chief executive and town clerk Lance Allen said: “I can confirm that the parish poll is advisory, and the town council does not have to abide by the result.”