LANCASTER City Council leader Ian Barker is pleased that a Morecambe Bay authority option will appear on referendum papers in Lancashire and Cumbria.

The option, proposed by the city council and Barrow Borough Council, will appear alongside one for a unitary Lancashire County Council with increased powers to take over services now in the hands of the city council and other smaller authorities in the county.

Coun Barker said he was really pleased' to see Lancaster and Barrow's joint proposal to merge with South Lakeland into a Morecambe Bay authority make it into the Boundary Committee's final recommendations for Lancashire.

"Both councils feel this is the best option for efficient single-tier local government that remains as close as possible to the people," he said.

But Lancashire County Council leader, Hazel Harding, is backing Lancashire's other option for a more powerful unitary county council for most of Lancashire, claiming it would offer continuity of services at the lowest cost.

"Lancashire County Council already provides 85 per cent of local government services in the county so a new Lancashire Council would be able to continue with minimal disruption," she said.

However, LCC has opposed the principle of regional devolution in the past and the Government has said that, if there is a "no" vote in the referendum on an elected regional government for the North West, there will be no change in local government.

Lancaster MP Hilton Dawson is calling on the county council to show how serious it is about the proposed new Lancashire Council by dropping its opposition to devolution and joining the yes' campaign for a North West Assembly.

"If Lancashire is serious about the grand plan that they've put to the Boundary Committee, they will respond positively to my challenge. If they are only seeking to undermine this autumn's referendum and preserve the positions of their councillors and senior officers, they won't," he said.