TOWN leaders are so frustrated at the "unfairness" of a boundary review that they plan to leaflet all their residents.

Blandford councillors say they have not had the chance to present their case to North Dorset District Council which will make the decision.

Members have long argued that Blandford St Mary and parts of Pimperne and Bryanston should be included within the town's boundaries. And they are keen for Blandford camp - whose residents pay the parish precept to Tarrant Valley from which they are cut off by a security fence - to be included in the town's boundaries.

Councillors say that those living close to the town use all its facilities but do not contribute to the coffers. And they believe they have not had a fair hearing.

Cllr Haydn White said the district council had turned down requests to present their case to the cabinet and to full council.

"When we put in an application for change of boundaries we were told that council tax was not a criterion yet every one of the parishes used the argument if they were to become part of Blandford they would be paying more council tax," he said.

"If those 1,000 people and the ones in Langton Long were within the boundary it would also substantially reduce the council tax.

"We're going to circulate all residents."

Mr White criticised the minor boundary changes proposed by the district council.

Sunrise Business Park would remain in Pimperne, as would land designated for Blandford playing fields and the town allotments, he said.

It would throw up a problem with the proposed redevelopment of Hall and Woodhouse brewery - still in Blandford St Mary, he added.

"Will they be refusing it on the grounds that it's an out-of-town development?" he said.

Cllr White added that Sturminster and Newton were much further apart than Blandford and Blandford St Mary yet were within the one parish of Sturminster Newton.

"We're only really asking that they treat us the same as everybody else," he added.

No-one at the district council was available for comment.