At the moment there is a county council and district councils

It claims allowing it to run all services would be the cheapest way to reorganise local government across its 3,000 square miles.

If an elected regional assembly is established, the structure of councils in North Yorkshire will be changed.

The county council says making it the only council in North Yorkshire would save millions of pounds compared with other options being considered.

These other options put forward by the Boundary Committee all involve abolishing the county council and joining up the present district councils in various ways.

A report prepared for senior county councillors says that keeping much of the present structure would save council taxpayers between �10m and �21m compared with more radical change.

Councillor John Weighell, the leader of the county council, said: "This money could make a big difference to services in the county instead of being used to meet the overheads of multiple councils."