RESIDENTS in two remote Dales villages have taken the first major step to forming a new parish council by formally voting in favour of the move.

People in the villages of Marske and New Forest, in Swaledale, hope that forming a parish council will help them to gradually improve facilities in the villages and also give them a voice on a wider stage.

The two villages currently hold parish meetings but the fairly casual arrangements mean that the groups have no permanent representatives or budgets.

A meeting last night to discuss merging the two meetings to create the first new parish council in the Richmondshire district since Brough with St Giles, in 2003, attracted 27 people.

Also in attendance was Michael Dowson, head of democratic services at Richmondshire District Council, and county councillor John Blackie, who have been working with the parishes to bring the plan together.

Mr Dowson will now propose the formation of the new parish to councillors at the district council for approval, which should lead to parish elections in May.

Between them the two villages have 112 electors, with just 16 people eligible to vote in New Forest.

Simon Matthews, who has acted as clerk to the Marske parish meeting since 2008, has been working to create the new parish council in the hope that it will allow the villages to have more say on their own futures.

He said: "The two parishes already work well together as a community, which was especially shown during the recent snow.

"Initially our plans are quite modest, we are only proposing a precept of £1,000 for the first year, and will perhaps concentrate on putting up notice boards and things like that, but long term we would be looking at building a village hall.

"I think this is a huge step forward for the two parishes and as well as giving us a stronger voice and more influence and the ability to access possible additional funding to improve the parishes, it will give us legitimacy and a higher profile within the district council and the wider community."