THE seven district councils of County Durham could be scrapped if the North-East votes for a regional assembly in October's referendum.

Yesterday, the Boundary Committee announced its two options for reshaping local government in the county. One option is to scrap the districts and create an all-powerful county council, which would be called, confusingly, County Durham Council.

The second option is to replace all the districts and the county council with three unitary authorities.

The first option, in particular, risks ridicule from the opponents of devolution, who are likely to attack the cost of switching around two words on council signs and literature - especially as a similar concept south of the River Tees calls for North Yorkshire County Council to be reborn as North Yorkshire Council.

Caroline Spelman, Tory devolved government spokeswoman, said: "This wholly unnecessary and highly expensive reorganisation of local government will not lead to one extra police officer, doctor or nurse. Indeed, research from Cambridge University shows that the cost of the reorganisation alone will add £110 to the council tax bill of each resident."

The options will be put to people in County Durham on October's ballot paper. The favoured option will be introduced if voters say yes to an assembly.

In the first option, the district councils of Chester-le-Street, Derwentside, Durham City, Easington, Sedgefield, Teesdale and Wear Valley would be abolished.

The second option would abolish all existing councils and create three unitary authorities instead. Durham City and Easington would merge to become East Durham; Chester-le-Street and Derwentside would form North Durham, and Sedgefield, Teesdale and Wear Valley would become South Durham.

Both options leave Darlington and the Cleveland councils, which are already unitaries, unaffected.