North Yorkshire is England's largest county

Two options will be included in a referendum to be held in the autumn.

One would have the county council providing all services. The second would combine six district councils into three large authorities.

The changes will only come into effect if there is a "yes" vote to set up an elected regional assembly.

North Yorkshire is the only apart of Yorkshire and Humber that has two tiers of local councils.

North Yorkshire presently provides the big services such as education social services and highways John Weighall Leader, North Yorkshire County Council

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott asked the Boundary Committee to see how this might be simplified if a regional assembly were to be established.

The first option would retain North Yorkshire's present boundaries with the county council taking over responsibilities for services provided by the district councils such as leisure and housing.

Under the second option, Selby would become part of the neighbouring East Riding and the rest of the county divided into three councils.

This would be achieved by combining Craven and Harrogate, Hambleton with Richmondshire, and Ryedale and Scarborough.

'Too large'

Speaking on behalf of the six authorities the leader of Hambleton Council, Arthur Barker, said he was pleased the option they had put forward would be on the ballot paper.

He claimed that making the county council the sole tier of local government would produce an authority which would be far too large and bigger than any other in England.

But the leader of the Northallerton-based North Yorkshire County Council, John Weighall, rejected this view.

"North Yorkshire presently provides the big services such as education social services and highways," he said.

"If we split these services up between different councils there would be a large amount of disruption."

The Boundary Committee's proposals now go to Mr Prescott for his approval before they are put to the North Yorkshire voters at the same time as the whole of the region is asked to vote on whether there should be an elected regional assembly.

York is already an all-purpose authority separate from the county council