Fairfield Parish Council is to submit the suggestion that it be re-named Fairfield Village Council.

The discussion arose as part of the Central Bedfordshire Council (CBC) Community Governance Review. Central Bedfordshire is made up of ‘Town’ and ‘Parish’ councils, but the names ‘Community’, ‘Neighbourhood’ and ‘Village’ are also allowed by law.

Some councillors believe that we should keep the traditional ‘Parish Council’ title; others like the idea of becoming a ‘Village Council’. Their reasoning is that ‘Parish’ has parochial connotations (currently Fairfield comes under the Stotfold St Mary’s Parochial Council) whereas ‘Village’ is more modern and better reflects the young community of Fairfield.

The council asked residents for their views and by a narrow majority of 66–52 you chose ‘Village’. Although 208 votes were cast, 77 were discounted – 24 because people clicked on ‘Vote’ but made no choice and their votes were therefore void; 53 from households who voted more than the permitted twice. One household tried to cast 27 votes, another, 26 and a third, nine. In each case only the first two votes were counted.

Whether the change happens or not is down to the result of the wider consultation. If Fairfield is alone in wanting to become a ‘Village Council’ then CBC is likely to reject the suggestion in favour of uniformity across the region.