Services like rubbish collection could be run by one council

The full council will meet on Tuesday and vote on whether it wants to go ahead with the move.

Instead of district councils running some services and the county council controlling others, it could mean just one authority doing everything.

Union leaders are concerned that if it goes ahead the move will mean hundreds of jobs will be lost.

At present, Hambleton District Council, Harrogate Borough Council, Richmondshire District Council, Ryedale District Council, Selby District Council, Craven District Council and Scarborough Borough Council run services such as rubbish collection, housing and environmental health.

Golden opportunity

The county council is responsible for services such as libraries, museums, roads and social services.

The Local Government White Paper, presented in Parliament in October, gave the go-ahead for councils to bid for unitary status.

In North Yorkshire, the plans will have to be passed by the full council on Tuesday before they can go any further.

In the foreword to the plan, county council leaders said local government must be value for money.

We know that a single tier council makes sense, but we want guarantees of jobs Alan Hughes Unison, Yorkshire and Humber

They said: "The challenges of the future mean that we cannot stand still.

"It is therefore important that we seize this golden opportunity that now arises to harness all of the skills and resources across local government to do an even more effective job."

Alan Hughes, of Unison's Yorkshire and Humber branch, urged council chiefs to save jobs in the process.

He said: "We know that a single tier council makes sense, but we want guarantees of jobs.

"We would hope that staff would be kept informed with what was happening at every possible point."