The first Billericay Information Directory for 20 years has been welcomed by many in the town, but some residents are wondering how they ended up marginalised.

Councillors on Great Burstead and South Green Parish Council are angry their parish has not been fully included in what claims to be a comprehensive guide to Billericay.

Clerk of the Parish Council, Dorothy Cundy, said: ''The booklet was financed by Billericay Town, so it is understandable that information and distribution should be restricted to that area. But why not make it clear in the title, script and map that this is the case?

"The directory is impressive but why imply it contains all you need to know about Billericay when, apart from the small A-Z of businesses, it is simply a guide to the parish known as Billericay Town, one of five parishes comprising the Billericay area."

"I am sorry parishioners of Billericay Town will be given the impression that this is a comprehensive guide, and may miss out on facilities in the rest of Billericay."

Billericay town clerk Gwynneth Moylan is waiting for official notification from Great Burstead and South Green Parish of their views on the directory, but says the town council is happy to listen to feedback.

She said: "We will note the criticism and include it in our file of good and bad comments which we will use when we come to do it again - 95 percent of the feedback has been positive and any criticism constructive. Hopefully when we come to do it again we can make improvements using those comments.

"The letter from Great Burstead and South Green Parish Council will be presented to the next meeting of the heritage working party and we will wait and see what their response is."

The council is very pleased with the response to the directory, which was delivered to every household in the town.

At a town council meeting last week, chairman of the heritage working party, Cllr John Buchanan, said: "People have been stopping me in the street, at church and at work to tell me what a marvellous product it is and how pleased they are with it."

The guide: Chairman of Billericay Town Council, Trevor Stansfield, and Cllr Marion Wilson with the Billericay Information Directory.

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.