COUNTY councillors have voted to scrap Carrick and Kerrier district councils and replace them with one single authority operating from County Hall.

Councillors at yesterday's special meeting of the full county council voted by 41 to 31 (with five abstentions) in favour of the proposal which would, if accepted by the government, see the current system of county council and six district councils replaced by a single unified council.

Council leader David Whalley said that change was necessary to address public confusion over the role of different councils and the costs of duplication and overlap.

He said the new council would deliver strong leadership, greater local involvement and produce annual savings of at least £17m to be invested in frontline services and reduce future council tax increases.

"This is an ambitious and far reaching proposal," he said. "It offers a strong single voice for Cornwall and more devolved decision making to local areas. It brings new opportunities to every community and offers real savings that can be used to enhance service delivery. It will be good for every resident in Cornwall and good for Cornwall."

But the proposal was denounced by the local Conservative group whose leader, James Currie from Feock, described it as being like a "hostile takeover bid."

"The bid has created an absolute mess and it has almost nothing to commend it," he said "This hostile take-over bid is unpleasant by definition and by the unwelcome reception it has received from our partners. Relations with the district councils have reached an all time low, destroying trust and expertise that has built up over the past 30 years."

The proposal will now be submitted to the Government this Thursday. It will consider all the proposals submitted by councils before announcing at the end of March which will go forward to the second stage of the process If Cornwall is selected to go forward the government will consult with partners and stakeholders.

At the end of the consultation process, the government will re-assess the proposals and announce the successful areas at the end of July 2007.

It is proposed that elections to the new councils will be held in May, 2008. The new authorities are expected to be fully operational by April, 2009.