The West Yorkshire Police Authority will tell the Home Secretary it cannot agree to merge with other forces in the biggest shake-up of policing for 30 years.

Charles Clarke has come under fire over plans to merge the 43 police forces of England and Wales into as few as 12 regional super-forces.

The reorganisation is aimed at helping combat terrorism and organised crime, but the Association of Police Authorities has refused to submit final business costs for mergers to the Home Office by this Friday's deadline.

Critics say the plans are being rushed through without adequate consultation and police authorities are demanding assurances about finances and organisation.

The Home Office plans give West Yorkshire two options: to merge with North Yorkshire or to form a single regional force with three forces - North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and Humberside.

But West Yorkshire Police Authority chairman Mark Burns-Williamson won an undertaking from Mr Clarke and Home Office Minister Hazel Blears to put a "no change" option back on the agenda. And yesterday the authority confirmed its opposition to mergers and called for West Yorkshire to remain as a "stand-alone" force.

At a meeting in Wakefield, councillors agreed to submit limited plans to the Home Secretary, with a letter stating the authority's views and including submissions from the force, which is also believed to back staying independent.

Vice-chairman Councillor Clive Richardson, a Bradford member on the authority, told the meeting: "It is the first major change to policing for 30 years and should be worked out by discussion with the community and in Parliament."

Councillor Burns-Williamson said Pudsey Labour MP Paul Truswell had secured an Adjournment Debate in Parliament in January to discuss West Yorkshire's position.

He said Mr Clarke had the power to impose a solution but it would be better not to go down that road. "I would rather do it by as much negotiation as we can, than have something imposed upon us," he said.

Chief Constable Colin Cramphorn told the meeting: "What we are definitely not in the process of promoting is the regional option. We think that's the worst of all worlds. We are the only strategic force in the region, therefore the only people who can give a lead."

In its submissions to Mr Clarke the police authority says its residents are "currently satisfactorily protected" though it has no objection in principle to mergers to strengthen protection in other parts of the region. But it adds: "The authority is not yet persuaded that this cannot be achieved through other means.

"The work West Yorkshire Police has done in the limited time available indicates that a viable solution can be found that avoids the need for amalgamation. It asks that this option is given careful consideration as the means of achieving the desired outcome with the least cost and risk to the people of West Yorkshire."

It says merger options potentially hit council tax payers which the authority regards as an "insuperable barrier". It goes on: "In the absence of a concrete model of governance that provides a proper degree of local accountability, the authority is currently unable to support either amalgamation proposal."

And it points out that merger with North Yorkshire would cost council tax payers an extra £21 without any guarantee of improved service - and £18 for merger with all three forces.