THE Tory group has accused council leaders of being 'undemocratic' for preventing its views on a boundary review being put on public display in the borough's libraries.

The Boundary Committee for England (BCE) is currently carrying out a review of Trafford, to ensure each councillor represents a similar number of electors.

The BCE has invited groups and individuals to suggest proposals and both Trafford council and the Conservative group have come up with draft schemes.

They are now going through a consultation exercise and residents have until August 31 to make any comments about the proposed changes.

But the Tories are livid that their suggestions won't be on display alongside a map showing the changes proposed by the council at the libraries.

A note will inform library visitors that they can inspect both the council and Conservative plans, which are available from the library counter.

But Conservative councillor Pam Dixon said: "I don't think this is democracy. They won't put our map up. We should be allowed to put up our map alongside theirs.

"There is nothing political in our proposal. The Conservative group has submitted what it thinks is best for Trafford."

Beverley Dunn, the head of legal and democratic services at the council, said that although the libraries could not be used for party political purposes, they were available to provide information.

She said the council did not have a problem with informing people that the Conservative proposals are available in the libraries for people to look at.

But she believed it would be confusing if people were looking at two schemes side by side on a display board.

The council's recommendations include reducing the number of wards from 21 to 20, and the number of councillors from 63 to 60. The boundaries of all the existing wards would be amended and the names of six wards changed.

Under the Conservative scheme, 21 wards and 63 councillors would be retained. But there would be boundary changes, including creating some new wards.