On Monday, Home Secretary Charles Clarke outlined plans to merge Durham, Cleveland and Northumbria.

The plans have been welcomed by the chief constables of the Northumbria and Durham forces.

But Cleveland remains opposed and police authority chairman Councillor Dave McLuckie said he thought there were grounds for a judicial review.

Police minister Hazel Blears said a larger force would mean more capacity to deal with major incidents and it would mean local policing teams would not be taken away to deal with such incidents.

'Red herring'

Mr McLuckie said that was exactly the concern people had - that officers could be taken from Teesside to deal with a murder in Tyneside for example. He said they had been told there would be no forced mergers.

The forces have now been given three weeks for further discussions.

Mr McLuckie said: "I think that there are grounds for a judicial review and we will certainly be looking at that.

"We don't want to be lumped into a super force. It won't be any bigger, there are no extra police officers and the geographical area that they have to cover is exactly the same.

"It's a red herring and it is all about saving some money on people's jobs and on a couple of police HQs. It won't do any better in the......policing that she is talking about, that's my view."