Broseley facing loss of its own beat bobby

Broseley could lose its own dedicated bobby on the beat under cost-cutting plans by West Mercia Police to axe the post.

Police chiefs are instead proposing to transfer responsibility for local policing in Broseley to the police officer who handles the Much Wenlock patch.

Broseley's local police officer Constable Sean Kinson has been in the post for about two years however he is to be redeployed in Shropshire by the end of the month.

The move would end about 10 years of local policing in Broseley.

It today sparked protests from one Shropshire councillor who expressed 'shock and disappointment'.

Councillor Jean Jones, who represents Broseley on Shropshire Council, said: "Our community has benefited enormously from the services of a dedicated local police officer in recent years, through increased local intelligence, reassurance and crime prevention initiatives. These are difficult to quantify but pay dividends in the longer term.

"Broseley's population is larger than that of Much Wenlock but we are now in the position of being policed by an officer who is already heavily committed in Much Wenlock and is based in that town's police office.

"Broseley will continue to receive the services of our community support officer, which is good news, but we are becoming increasingly concerned at how future reorganisation of the force may impact on the town."

Chief Inspector Sarah Wagstaff, head of local policing in Shropshire, said: "I'm afraid it's a sign of the times where we are having to work within tightly controlled budgets.

"There is a proposal to combine Broseley and Much Wenlock under one local policing officer. Both towns are policed from Bridgnorth and receive 24-hour cover from the response teams."

She said proposals also in- clude an extra officer on each of the five response teams for the Bridgnorth area.