Proposals have been published for an overhaul of local government in the three northern England areas where regional assemblies could be created. The Boundary Committee drew up the plans for the North West, North East and Yorkshire-and-Humber.
It suggested two options to replace the two tiers of district and county councils in six affected counties.
People will vote on the plans when referendums are held later this year on the idea of regional assemblies.
The plans, relating to Cheshire, County Durham, Cumbria, Lancashire, Northumberland and North Yorkshire counties, are still subject to the approval of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott.
They would offer voters a choice between single unitary authorities for their areas or three unitary authorities combining existing districts.
The most popular option would only be implemented in the event of a "yes" vote for regional assemblies.
Controversial
The most controversial proposal involves Lancashire and Cumbria, where Lancaster City could be combined with Barrow-in-Furness and South Lakeland in Cumbria to create a unitary authority straddling the old county divisions.
Boundary Committee chair Pamela Gordon said: "Our principal objective has been to ensure our options offer realistic prospects of meeting the needs of people living in all the communities concerned."
She told BBC News some radical suggestions were "inevitable".
"Our remit was to come up with a system of local government, really strong authorities, in the context of there being a regional assembly," she said.
"So we needed powerful authorities, capable of delivering the full range of council services, and able to have some clout in the regional assembly."
The year-long review included public consultation and received more than 5,000 submissions.
Long-held dream
Regional devolution would be the culmination of a long-held political dream for Mr Prescott.
He wants to replace the unelected bodies currently in charge of regional development with modern, democratically accountable institutions to give the regions a better voice.
But for the scheme's critics, the new assemblies will amount to little more than expensive talking shops with no real power.
Referendums are likely to be held in November.
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I think there should be an English assembly like Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales 
