Parish councils are making a last-ditch stand to prevent being lumped together into a local election ward.

The Local Government Commission for England wants a merger of seven west Oxfordshire villages spread out across a large swathe of Cotswold countryside.

They stretch from Kingham in the west, through Salford, Over Norton and Rollright in the north, to Heythrop, Enstone and the Tews.

But the unification, part of a plan to cut the district's election wards from 33 to 27, is being fiercely resisted.

Most of the parish councils have now objected to the final arbiter, the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, Stephen Byers. And the district council's cabinet has joined the protest.

At this week's meeting deputy leader Verena Hunt said: "I can understand their concern. Some of the villages have had no previous connection with each other."

Public consultation on the issue has been extensive, but the commission has dismissed local objections in its final report to the Secretary of State.

The aim has been to re-draw the boundaries of election wards in west Oxfordshire so they have an equal number of voters.

The proposal going to Mr Byers is to divide west Oxfordshire into two wards - one for Kingham, Salford, Over Norton and Rollright, and one for Enstone, Heythrop and the Tews.

The changes are expected to come into effect for the next round of local government elections in May 2002.