MEMBERS of North Yorkshire County Council are to strike a blow in their fight to save their seats from any local government shake-up.

Senior county councillors have prepared a response to the Boundary Committee for England on the possibility of North Yorkshire's local government system being reorganised.

It pushes hard for the county council to form the basis of any new unitary authority if the public vote "yes" in next year's referendum on a regional assembly.

The unitary authority would be a single tier of local government, working with any regional assembly.

The move would spell the death knell for the county's smaller, or second-tier councils, such as Hambleton District Council or Scarborough Borough Council.

The response is set to be debated at a special council meeting on Wednesday.

It states: "A divided North Yorkshire would have less community identity and smaller units of local government which would have less capacity to serve their large and thinly-populated geographic areas.

"The single unitary offers the strongest basis for effective and convenient local government and for addressing community identities and interests."

Council leader John Weighell said: "Our position is we believe a county unitary authority should be one of the options for the public to vote on. Our only aim at this time is to make sure the choice is on the ballot paper. None of this is the wish of the county or the districts, it has been forced on us by the Government's regionalisation agenda."

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott called a referendum on a regional assembly for Yorkshire and the Humber after his office said a "soundings" exercise had found enough interest to justify one.

Although the county council has already voted to oppose a regional assembly, re-organisation would be inevitable after a "yes" vote.

The county council's response also strongly opposes the break-up of the Selby district, arguing for it to be included within any North Yorkshire unitary authority.

The district and borough councils, opposing their abolition, could recommend they merge to form unitary authorities on regional lines.

Options being considered could see unitary authorities covering Scarborough and Ryedale, Hambleton and Richmondshire and Harrogate and Craven. Selby could become part of the East Riding Of Yorkshire council based at Beverley.

City of York Council, already a unitary authority, would not be affected by the reorganisation. Wednesday's meeting will be held at County Hall, Northallerton, from 10.30am.

Updated: 10:37 Monday, September 01, 2003