PLANS for a new system of neighbourhood policing in the Petersfield area have hit a major hurdle before they have even been introduced – after news that proposed staff numbers have already been cut. Members of East Hampshire District Council reacted angrily when they were told this week that the 30 police community safety officers due to pound the beat in the "neighbourhoods" of the East Hampshire District north of Butser, which covers Petersfield, had already been slashed from 30 to just 12. And it means that police chief inspector Phil Kedge, the man in charge of the East Hampshire district, is likely to face tough questions when he comes to Petersfield in the new year to explain how the new neighbourhood policing scheme will work. He is also likely to receive an equally-cautious reception when he visits the three other community forum areas in East Hampshire. Pam Bradford echoed the sentiments of fellow councillors when she said: "I was excited about this scheme and now – before it has even got started – the government has cut the funding." She said there were many organisations involved in the new neighbourhood policing scheme, but it was those people actually involved at the sharp end whose numbers had been cut. "I am concerned about how this is going to operate. All of a sudden it's not going to be as good as we thought." And Jennifer Gray, who represents the rural parishes of Colemore, Priors Dean, Froxfield, Steep and Stroud, said she wanted details of how the scheme would operate in rural areas. She said she believed the resources would be concentrated more on the urban areas of the district and leave villages out in the cold. Councillors were also angry at suggestions that if central government was not going to fund an adequate number of police community safety officers, perhaps the district council should consider providing finance to pay for its own officers. Mrs Bradford told the meeting she felt like "exploding" at the suggestion. "If the government can't find the money, how on earth can we be expected to find it?" she asked fellow members of the panel. But John Smith told councillors it was time to consider different options: "In Alton, we are funding a security firm to go round the town to keep an eye on things. Perhaps we need to keep an open view on things like this." But the council's lead officer on community safety, Guy Riddoch, said it was important to remember the district was still getting more police officers than it already had. He said: "The funding arrangements have been cut, and in the district north of Butser there are now going to be 12 police community support officers. This is quite a serious reduction, but it is still 12 officers we didn't have before. There is a positive way to look at it. "These people are dedicated beat officers who are not going to be called off on other issues like the response officers. You will see more officers on the beat, hopefully." The meeting heard that the new neighbourhood policing proposals, which are due to be brought in across the country next year, will see 16 neighbourhood managers overseeing each of the 16 neighbourhoods in the East Hampshire district north of Butser. Although the managers are police officers, they are to be "given" to the Community Safety Partnership to help co-ordinate and carry out projects and tackle a wide range of problems in their communities. The target for police community support officer recruitment across the whole of the Hampshire Constabulary has now been reduced from 539 to 333, and the planned recruitment scheme, due to take place from May next year to March 2008, has been abandoned. Superintendent Julie Earle, Hampshire Constabulary's safer neighbourhoods project manager, said this week: "Police community support officers have proved to be extremely popular within the communities in which they work and are highly-valued members of safer neighbourhoods teams. It is, therefore, disappointing that the communities of Hampshire will not now benefit from the number of police community support officers that was originally intended. "However, the force remains totally committed to implementing safer neighbourhoods, and this change to the funding does not alter our resolve to provide the best possible service within the available resources."
