CAMPAIGNERS are today drawing up plans to protest against being adopted by a neighbouring authority in a local government shake-up.

Councillor Frank Dyson, shadow leader of Ribble Valley Council, has called on voters to fight any merger of the borough.

The campaign started after government ministers redrafted proposals which could lead to a regional assembly being set up.

Under the plans, Lancashire County Council could be scrapped and borough councils merged into unitary authorities.

Original proposals suggested that existing unitary councils, like Blackburn with Darwen, would not have their boundaries changed, therefore making one East Lancashire unitary impossible.

But under the revised proposals, unitaries could be allowed to expand their boundaries.

That could mean parts of the Ribble Valley being merged with Blackburn with Darwen if the rural borough is carved up, or even an East Lancashire-wide authority.

The regional government shake-up hasn't even got to the stage where a referendum would decide if the North West wanted the change.

But if the unitary expansion policy becomes a reality, Ribble Valley would almost certainly be "swallowed up" by Blackburn with Darwen Council, or carved up between neighbouring authorities.

Coun Dyson said: "Regional government is a good thing in theory, if it takes power away from Whitehall and Brussels, but not at the expense of districts like Ribble Valley. It is a dreadful thought that we could end up in Blackburn with Darwen.

"Councils like Ribble Valley are the heartblood of local democracy in Britain and we must be prepared to fight and fight again."

Ribble Valley Council leader Chris Holtom said: "The threat to the Ribble Valley is particularly acute, as it is by far the largest borough geographically in Lancashire and the one most likely to get carved up."

Blackburn with Darwen Council leader Bill Taylor said: "Originally, there was no provision for us to expand and the view of our Labour group is that the boundaries should stay the same.

"Should we get to the stage where we are looking at boundaries, we will consider it then."

There is already a North West Regional Government of sorts in place -- run by Government Office North West and the North West Development Agency -- which has an annual budget of £7billion and 78 members nominated by county and borough councils.

But the assembly is not democratically-accountable and the Government wants to replace it with a 35-member parliament elected by the people.

Supporters say regional government will attract more European funds and improve the economic well-being of the North West, but critics claim it will cost millions of pounds to run and be bureaucratically oppressive.

The Ribble Valley successfully staved off extinction during the 1994 Local Government Review, when review bosses suggested the borough be divided between Blackburn, Burnley, Pendle and Preston.