A PUBLIC meeting about whether a Derwentside town should have its own council is being held on Friday.

People are being invited to discuss the prospect of forming Stanley Town Council, at the Louisa Centre, Front Street, Stanley.

The meeting has been organised by North Durham MP Kevan Jones, who is in favour of the plan.

He said: "A council will give people a focus on Stanley. We want to get our fair share of resources and people want to feel they are being listened to.

"People who have been involved in the campaign want to get a bit of feedback.

"I want to explain where we are now and discuss how we are going to go forward."

Derwentside District Council accepted that a 3,000-name petition collected by Mr Jones and the Stanley Town Council Steering Group was valid.

But in July, councillors voted to oppose the formation of the new body, following a £10,000 public consultation.

It involved 24,500 letters being sent to residents of the seven Stanley wards in the district.

Members supported the results of the consultation, in which six out of ten people who responded were opposed to an independent town council.

Thirty four per cent of the letters were returned.

Mr Jones criticised the consultation and argued it was unfair because it warned people council tax would need to rise to pay for the new body.

The final decision rests with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, which is currently deciding whether to give the plan the go-ahead.

Derwentside District Council leader Alex Watson said: "We have said from the start, if the people of Stanley want a town council they can have one. Likewise, if they said they did not want one, we would support that.

"We will not be sending anyone to the meeting. We can see no merit in attending a public meeting when the due process has been exhausted.

"The matter is now in the hands of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister."

The meeting starts at 6pm.