UNDEMOCRATIC, unwanted and far too costly was the unanimous verdict on Monday evening of Leyburn's town councillors about the way the Government is pushing for regional assemblies in the North.

They, like Middleham town councillors, believe that the costly consultation process being undertaken by the Boundary Committee, at the instigation of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, should have been carried out after the referendum.

It was pointed out on Monday that the two-inch-thick wad of documents had been sent to even the smallest parish meetings in the county, many of which would not have a meeting until after the consultation period ended on February 23. Some documents were from the county and district councils, but most were from the Boundary Committee.

A spokesman for the Boundary Committee said this week that the total cost of designing and printing leaflets, guidance reports and the draft recommendation report was £38,200.

She said it had a budget of £6m to cover the reviews of the proposed three new regions, North-West, North-East and Yorkshire and the Humber and did not expect to exceed that. The cost for the North-West region would be more, as it was larger than either of the others.

The options listed in the draft recommendations report did not include continuing with the present system.

"We are being asked to make a decision as if there had already been a yes vote in the referendum. The Government is only paying lip service to the democratic process," Coun Bob Owen said.

Coun Ian Barker added: "I feel we are just being dictated to and I don't like that. I believe we should leave things as they are."

"We are only being offered a choice of the lesser of several evils," said Coun Mavis Parry.

She, like Coun Margaret Knight, felt a large urban-based unitary authority would not understand the needs of rural areas and most of the money would be spent on the areas with the highest population.

They, like the Mayor of Middleham, Coun Tammi Tolhurst, queried the cost of the consultation process, which started in June last year.

"They are putting the cart before the horse," said Coun Tolhurst. "Surely you should let the people decide first and then hold the consultation. Does it mean that a decision has already been taken and the referendum is just a piece of window dressing?"

She added that if a majority

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