Ex-Home Secretary Charles Clarke began the process to merge the Northumbria, Durham and Cleveland forces.

Northumbria and Durham are in favour of the plan, while Cleveland only wants to merge with Durham.

Lawyers for Cleveland Police Authority were due to file an application for a judicial review at London's High Court.

If the Home Office contests the application a judge will have to hear arguments.

The Cleveland Police Authority is arguing that the Home Office did not properly consult over the proposed merger.

Cost fears

The government believes a North East "super force" would be more capable of dealing with major incidents and mean officers would not be taken away from their local areas to deal with such incidents.

Cleveland Police Authority chairman Dave McLuckie said: "The first thing that you lose is the local accountability of your chief constable.

"The new force will be 3,310 sq miles with one chief constable. We don't feel that that's acceptable to the people who we serve."

He said other concerns included the cost of the merger and the fear crime would go up.

Durham Chief Constable Jon Stoddart said: "I honestly believe that the people of the North East have got a lot more in common than they have got out of synch.

"And I believe that the strategic force offers that bedrock capacity and capability for neighbourhood policing whilst at the same time providing the platform to move forward and actually tackle the level two serious and organised crime gap that has been identified by the HMIC's report."