A NEW unitary super-council may have more councillors than first proposed during the battle for public support and Government approval.

Durham County Council's winning bid for a new style authority to run all services currently provided by the council and seven district councils proposed between 90 and 110 members.

Currently there are 438 district and county councillors - 126 county councillors, double the previous total, were elected in May and will serve as the first unitary councillors when the new council starts work next April.

The Boundary Commission is reviewing the 63 divisions across the county and there are fears that the number of councillors could be reduced.

An all-party working group has been looking at the issue and concluded the workload for councillors could be too onerous.

There are also fears that there will be a "democratic deficit'' and people will be unable to reach their councillors.

The Labour-controlled council is to tell the Boundary Commission that it believes 126 councillors is the minimum needed for the authority to be "fit for purpose''.

"There is no reason why Durham should have lower levels of representation than smaller areas that are moving towards unitary status.

He said the loss of district councillors "will have a significant affect on all our workloads come next April and it has to be factored into the equation.

He said Sunderland had 78 councillors for a population half the size of County Durham, adding "and we are a much larger geographical area than Sunderland and Newcastle''.

Normally people could be expected to want a reduction in the number councillors but consultation had revealed that "Local people have said that a reduction from 375 (the old total of district and county councillors) to 126 councillors is a very significant cut in the numbers of councillors already and people are genuinely worried about being able to contact their councillor.

"It is important there is no reduction in effectiveness after this new council comes into being.

"The general view coming through is we don't believe we should have cut in councillors.'' Liberal Democrat leader Nigel Martin echoed Coun Henig's concerns and said his colleagues were concerned about future workloads even though there would be an enhanced role for town and parish councils under the new system.

Acting director of corporate services, Lesley Davies, said police authority chairman Peter Thompson had written supporting the county council's stance.

And the County Durham Association of Town and Parish Councils said there should be three members per division, instead of the current two, which would give a total of 189 members.