A CALL for Wiltshire councillors to support the proposed merger of the county’s fire service with Dorset’s will be made on Tuesday.

Independent councillors Terry Chivers and Jeff Osborn will put the motion to a full council meeting at Trowbridge.

A public consultation on the future of the service had been expected to be launched on Monday.

But this afternoon members of the fire authority were still discussing the wording of the consultation document.

The authority’s previous chairman, Cllr Graham Payne, who is a keen supporter of the merger, was ousted by Tory colleagues who want to see if Wiltshire Council can take on the fire service’s back office functions.

The chiefs of the two fire services have produced a document showing that a merger is the best way to achieve the savings they are required to make, but this document will not now be used in the consultation.