COUNCILLORS in Britain's biggest county are being urged to unite in opposition to any proposal to merge local ambulance trusts.

One of North Yorkshire's leading politicians wants to see any such move ruled out - saying it could even lead to lives being put at risk.

Councillor John Blackie, from Hawes, has put forward a motion to go before the quarterly meeting of North Yorkshire County Council next week.

It has been seconded by Thirsk's Gareth Dadd.

They said any merger leading to the establishment of a Yorkshire and Humberside regional ambulance trust could have a detrimental effect.

They say it could take operational resources away from rural areas such as North Yorkshire to concentrated, urban areas of population.

The pair fear that would result in longer response times to emergencies, potentially putting people's lives at risk.

And they said that could be made worse with the creation of any regional control centre involving loss of local knowledge.

Coun Blackie, who is the chairman of the county council's scrutiny of health committee, wants the full council to debate his motion.

He said: "In view of the crucial importance of the issue to residents of North Yorkshire, and the serious concern already expressed by the scrutiny of health committee, the county council should take a view on this issue without delay and prior to the expected publication of any consultation proposals."

He said that would raise the public profile of the issue - and local people would be clear about the county council's position from the outset.

Under the proposals to split the service between the North-East and the Yorkshire regions, the Friarage Hospital in Northallerton and the James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough would fall in different ambulance service areas.

Fears have already been expressed that such a move could cause problems for medical services shared by the two hospitals.

It has also been claimed that such a split could be highly damaging to patient services in the Dales.