DIVISIONAL police commander, Chief Inspector Ian Hobbs, was given a rough ride by Pewsey parish councillors concerned at rumours about the village police station closing.

Despite his assurances the police station would remain with a sergeant and five constables manning it, councillors expressed concern that this did not answer the needs of the community.

Chf Insp Hobbs said Salisbury division, which covers both Salisbury and Kennet districts, had been granted an extra 22 police officers, 20 of whom would go to Kennet. Although this means that policing in the area would benefit, it would take time for the new officers to be trained.

Pewsey would lose one officer from its strength, down from six to five constables, but they would be dedicated community beat officers. Any emergencies would be covered by response officers from Devizes, Marlborough or Tidworth.

Chief Insp Hobbs said: "Pewsey is a very low crime area and much of the crime that does take place here criminal damage, thefts from non-dwellings and vehicle thefts is very difficult to police. We rely on the eyes and ears of the community to help us in our fight against them.

"I am aware of the rumours about the closure of the police station. I can say I am committed to keeping it open with this level of officers. I would like Pewsey to have more but with this low level of crime I could not justify an increase in staffing."

Chief Insp Hobbs said there were 354 reported crimes in the Pewsey section which stretches from Netheravon to Oare and Alton Barnes to Wootton Rivers last year, less than one a day and the lowest rate of any section in the force. This represented an increase of eight crimes over the previous year.

Although violent crime was down by 41 per cent, 97 per cent of it detected, there was an increase in thefts from vehicles from 26 to 86 crimes, most of this in beauty spots around the area. There were no drugs offences at all.

Councillors were particularly concerned about incidents of criminal damage, mainly to parked vehicles, but an incident of vandalism at the bowling green was also mentioned.

They were not happy to learn that, although five constables are based at Pewsey police station, only one, part-time WPC Michelle Haley, has responsibility for patrolling the village itself.

Coun John Cooke said: "It worries me that a policeman's job is not just catching criminals but preventing crime, and the best way of doing that is having a presence on the street."

Coun Alex Carder added: "Although we have a small level of crime, for the victims it is 100 per cent.

"The area our officers have to cover is being stretched further westwards all the time without any increase in staffing."

Chief Insp Hobbs said that in the event of an incident in Pewsey, officers could be there within 20 minutes, the target response time they had been set. Pewsey police had met this target time on more than 90 per cent of occasions in April, though this had fallen slightly since because of staff shortages.