PARISH councillors are forging ahead with a rebrand – against a directive from Swindon Borough Council.

At a heated borough council meeting in September, Conservative councillors voted to block Central Swindon South Parish Council from changing its name to South Swindon Parish Council.

Council leader David Renard said that he did not believe there had been a proper consultation on the name change, adding that the new name “implies that there is a coterminosity between the parish council and the South Swindon constituency, which clearly there isn’t”.

However, Chris Watts, borough councillor and parish council chairman, said: “We consulted on the name chance with the public and we voted on it unanimously – Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem members.

“We’ve voted on this – it’s not just our view. People can’t even remember the name now.”

Labour councillor Kevin Small called the parish council’s original name “gobbledygook”.

At the first full meeting of the parish council after the name block, councillors decided to go ahead with the name change.

Vice chairman Janine Howarth said: “As you all know, we decided as a parish as a whole that we wanted to change the name and we also came up with a logo.

“The borough council decided – or some members of the borough council – decided that they didn’t want us to change our name.

“Whatever. We’re going ahead and still keeping as South Swindon Parish Council with an indentation ‘Trading as Central Swindon South Parish Council’.”

The logo quickly picked by councillors shows a heron flying over stylised hills. It will be reproduced on “badges and notes”, Coun Howarth said.