SENTIMENT cannot stand in the way of scrapping historic shires such as County Durham if they do not deliver value for money, a government minister said yesterday.

David Miliband, the communities minister, said the test in deciding whether to replace the county council with unitary authorities would be how best to improve the delivery of services.

Asked about local people's attachment to a historic county, Mr Miliband said: "People live in the present and the future."

He added: "Identity matters, but so does what we want local government to do - the functions we want it to perform in the 21st Century.

"How can we provide real value for money, real strategic leadership, real neighbourhood services? That's the test."

Mr Miliband spoke to The Northern Echo a week after announcing a quickfire consultation paving the way for replacing two-tier authorities with unitary councils across England.

The move would also scrap the county councils in North Yorkshire and Northumberland. Unitaries already exist across Tyne and Wear and former Cleveland, as well as in Darlington.

County Durham dates back almost to the Norman invasion of 1066, having been ruled as a near-independent state by powerful Prince Bishops.

The first was William St Carileph, who became head of what was called the County Palatinate of Durham in 1081.

The official position is that no decisions have been taken, but a leaked memo last year revealed Mr Miliband views the two-tier system as wasteful and confusing.

One scenario is that three unitary councils would be created in County Durham. North Yorkshire would also have three and Northumberland would have two.

Alternatively, all powers could be handed to the existing county councils in each area, which would be renamed to reflect their new status as unitaries.

Mr Miliband hinted the second option might prevail, when he suggested it was more difficult to get value for money if authorities were smaller in size.

And he said: "If we go ahead, we are going to go ahead on the basis of proposals that are made.

"Let's see what they come up with."

The minister failed to quell speculation that next year's local elections will be scrapped to prevent councils sitting for only 12 months.

Mr Miliband said he did not "expect or intend" to abandon the polls - but pointedly declined to guarantee they would go ahead.