A borough councillor is angry that Test Valley has been forced to drop prayers before full council meetings after the High Court ruled the practice was unlawful.

Alison Johnston (Romsey Extra) said: “I’m a Christian. I believe this is a Christian country and I believe it should be just as lawful to say prayers in the council as it is in Parliament or a school.”

Test Valley took the decision after Mr Justice Ouseley ruled the prayers were not lawful under Section 111 of the Local Government Act 1972.

The matter went to court when Clive Bone, an atheist and former councillor, brought an action against Bideford Town Council in Devon with the backing of the National Secular Society.

Mrs Johnston said that she felt years of tradition had been overturned for the sake of one man and she would be raising the matter with the council leader, Ian Carr and writing to Romsey MP, Caroline Nokes, to ask her to raise the issue in Parliament.

In a letter to councillors, this week, Test Valley’s head of legal and democratic services, Susan Tovey, stated: “TVBC’s practice is to hold prayers as part of its full council meetings, a practice that has been declared as unlawful. In the circumstances, therefore, I have had to consider how the council continues this practice lawfully and at minimal risk of being challenged.”

An unhappy Councillor Ian Hibberd (Romsey Extra) believes the council’s legal chief’s decision is premature.

He told the Advertiser: “I believe we should be waiting until the matter has been tested on appeal, which I’m sure it will be. I don’t agree with the head of legal’s decision, which was made without consultation.”

He said that in his nine years on the council, he’d never heard anyone object to prayers and he believed it was up to individual local authorities to decide on the issue.

Agnostic councillor, Steve Cosier (North Baddesley), admitted that he had always thought that prayers got in the way of the business of the council, but he respected the wishes of hose who wanted them.

“I think it’s up to the council to decide whether we have prayers and not have this decision foisted upon us by the court,” he said.

Prayers will no longer appear on the agenda, but there will be an informal gathering for prayers in the council chamber prior to meetings.

The new system comes into action from the next full council meeting at Andover next Friday (February 24).

However, the ban on prayers may only be temporary, as Secretary of State, Eric Pickles, has said the Government’s new Localism Act could give councils powers to include prayers as part of the meeting if they wished.