GOVERNMENT ministers have declined an invitation to visit the county to discuss the proposed police mergers.

Harrogate Borough Council chiefs have only just received a reply after writing to Home Office Minister Hazel Blears and Home Secretary Charles Clarke three months ago.

The council wanted ministers to meet with all local authorities in the county to discuss plans to merge North Yorkshire Police with neighbouring forces.

Councillor Mike Gardner, leader of the council, is angry that the ministers declined the invitation.

He said: "The whole council is opposed to the plans to merge North Yorkshire Police force into a regional force.

"Chief constables up and down the country confirm what this council believes, that it will be impossible to avoid concentrating the largest share of resources in the more urban areas to the detriment of rural communities.

"This is the biggest change to our policing in decades and it is a style of policing that has not been tried and tested.

"But they have not allowed for any meaningful and informed debate on the future of policing in what is England's largest county."

Coun Gardner said he planned to write again to the Home Office outlining his concerns.