Two municipalities have been removed from the Calgary Metropolitan Region Board but they don't include Foothills County.

Municipal Affairs minister Ric McIver is allowing Wheatland County and the Town of Strathmore to leave the group.

Their distance from Calgary, relatively small population and the high cost associated with being members of the board were the reasons given for allowing them to drop out.

Foothills County Reeve Delilah Miller said last week they again asked to be released from the planning board in a meeting with McIver a couple weeks ago but they remain.

She says they look at the group as an extra, unnecessary level of planning that adds extra costs to those planning developments at a time when the Province says it's trying to reduce red tape.

Membership on the CMRB will consist of Calgary, the rural municipalities directly adjacent to it and the urban municipalities within those rural municipalities that have populations greater than 5,000 residents.

The remaining CMRB members are Calgary, Okotoks, High River, Foothills County, Airdrie, Chestermere, Cochrane, and Rocky View County.