A RETIRED Green Howards' officer has made a passionate plea to North Yorkshire councillors for help in safeguarding the future of the county's 316-year-old regiment.

The Green Howards, raised in 1688 and with regimental headquarters in Richmond, must wait until the end of the year to learn whether its identity and traditions will survive defence cuts announced to MPs in July.

It was among those facing an uncertain future after Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon announced that four infantry regiments, one from Scotland and three from England, would be cut as part of an Army Board restructuring programme.

Consultations involving the composition of proposed regimental mergers are taking place, with a decision by the Army Board expected next month and a Government announcement before Christmas.

The regimental board of the Green Howards has decided that, from the available options, a merger with the Prince of Wales's Own Regiment of Yorkshire and the Duke of Wellington's Regiment to form the Yorkshire Regiment is preferable to disbandment.

The board has assured serving and retired members of the regiment that, if a merger does take place, every effort will be made to ensure that it includes the Green Howards' history, traditions, spirit and identity.

One of the regiment's most famous soldiers was Stanley Hollis, of Middlesbrough, who won the VC for his actions in Normandy following D Day in 1944.

On Wednesday David Nicholson, who retired as a major from the Green Howards in 1986, urged North Yorkshire councillors to make their MPs aware of the disquiet about proposed infantry cuts.

Mr Nicholson was given leave by council chairman Coun John Dennis to address members at their quarterly meeting in a council chamber hung with Green Howards' colours from the First World War.

He said that, despite high technology, there was no substitute for troops on the ground and he expressed concern that, with overstretched commitments abroad, there might not be enough to meet a terrorist threat in this country.

Too much dependence was being placed on the Territorial Army, once 86,000 strong but now down to 30,000.

Mr Nicholson told councillors: "If at the end of the day the axe does fall in Yorkshire, we will need your help to save us and we will be mounting a Yorkshire campaign.

"We are a family and what is being suggested is a bereavement."

Coun Oliver Blease, of Richmond, pledged full support for any campaign on behalf of the Green Howards and Coun Paul Cross said: "To lose the Green Howards after 316 years would be to lose part of our identity."