Fears about a possible merger of health trusts in York and Harrogate have been allayed with proposals set to be dropped.

Officers of North Yorkshire Health Authority will recommend to members that the union would not serve the best interests of the two communities.

The move has been welcomed by Harrogate MP Phil Willis and the town's council leaders, who campaigned for the plans to be rejected.

Mr Willis raised questions in the House of Commons and met medical professionals after hearing of the proposals.

He said: "I am delighted that the local trust will remain and that there will be local management of services." Councillor Ivan Lester, chairman of the external scrutiny committee on the Liberal Democrat-controlled Harrogate Borough Council, explained that the merger was put forward as a possible method of managing economies.

He said the health authority had been concerned that demand wasn't big enough to merit two separate trusts.

He said: "In some areas the demand is not big enough, but the problem can be solved by arrangements between doctors and specialists working together with other trusts where they feel this is merited.

"I welcome proposals for closer relationships between clinical staff in both trusts, but Liberal Democrats in Harrogate are delighted that their efforts to forestall merger have been successful."

He said he feared merger would mean attention would centre largely on York, to the detriment of Harrogate.

He said: "Papers to come before a meeting of North Yorkshire Health Authority later this month will contain a recommendation from health service managers that a merger between the York and Harrogate NHS Trusts would not be in the best interests of all concerned and therefore should not proceed. This augurs well for the future of sound health services in the Harrogate district."

adam.nichols@ycp.co.uk