SENIOR officers have concluded that the controversial proposal for a single police force covering the whole of the North-East is the only solution to meet Government demands over the future policing of the region.

Two panels made up of senior operational officers and staff managers from Durham Policehave concluded that the merger of the force with neighbouring Northumbria and Cleveland forces is the best way forward to meet Home Office targets.

The increasingly heated debate over the future of the region's police was sparked in September, when Home Secretary Charles Clarke announced he was considering amalgamating a number of forces.

Both Durham's Chief Constable Paul Garvin and Northumbria Police Authority have publicly come out in favour of the single strategic force, while Cleveland Police Authority is arguing for two "city-region" forces - a Tees Valley force, which combines Cleveland with south Durham, and a second force which combines North Durham with Northumbria.

Findings from the two panels, set up shortly after Mr Clarke's initial announcement, will be put to a meeting of Durham Police Authority later this week, but both assessed the single force option to be the best way of meeting Home Office criteria for future policing.

Mr Garvin said: "Their conclusions came as no surprise. As far as the people of County Durham and Darlington are concerned, the case for a single regional force is, I believe, overwhelming and irresistible."

However, Councillor Dave McLuckie, chairman of Cleveland Police Authority, who has already clashed with Mr Garvin over the issue, said: "I believe it demonstrates an alarming, if not surprising, failure to recognise that successful policing depends on having a structure in which people feel confident and in which they believe that local concerns and needs will be taken into account."