THE chairman of a community-police group said merging with another force would be a disaster for policing in the county.

Martin Leather, chairman of the Boroughbridge group, made his comment at a meeting of Harrogate's district-wide community-police forum, which discussed proposals that could lead to merger of North Yorkshire with a neighbouring force.

Members were told a Closing the Gap report, issued by Inspector of Constabulary Dennis O'Connor, had published a structure for policing in England and Wales.

A report presented to the Harrogate meeting, which covers Ripon, Boroughbridge, Knaresborough, Pateley Bridge and Masham, said that could lead to a major change in nationwide policing for the first time in 31 years.

Under the new proposals, North Yorkshire could become what has been described as a strategic force, a role said to be the preferred option of Home Secretary Charles Clarke.

Mr O'Connor's report said the minimum number of officers for a strategic force was 6,000, made up of 4,000 police officers and 2,000 support staff.

North Yorkshire has 1,560 officers and 1,023 support staff.

This would mean North Yorkshire Police merging with one or more of its neighbouring forces in the Yorkshire and Humberside Region.

Mr Leather said he feared that North Yorkshire could find itself merged with Humberside, West Yorkshire, or other metropolitan areas.

If that happened, he believes police numbers would be drawn into metropolitan areas "because this is where the problems are" and that could mean North Yorkshire would suffer.

Mr Leather said: "I know it is going to happen and it will be an absolute disaster for North Yorkshire."

The group overwhelmingly supported a proposal opposing merger and protesting about lack of time for detailed consultation