MIDDLEHAM Town Council was extremely disappointed with the response from North Yorkshire police to its petition about the level of policing in the area.

The petition was sent to the chief constable, Della Cannings, whose staff officer, Insp Richard Spedding, had replied saying the petition and accompanying letter would be a great disappointment to local police who were doing all they could to meet needs and expectations.

He said the correspondence would be passed to the area commander who would "look at identifying ways of harnessing the obvious energy of the residents of Middleham into sustainable partnership solutions."

He added that the chief constable would be delighted to speak at an open meeting in Middleham, but was not free to do so until the autumn.

In a reply to Ms Cannings, the town council stated this week: "We were extremely disappointed by this response but in no way surprised.

"The criticism was not aimed directly at our local police, whom we realise are over-stretched and under-manned. Our comments were directed at North Yorkshire Police and yourself as Chief Constable.

"Inspector Spedding's remarks on harnessing the obvious energies of Middleham residents would appear to be aimed at either making light of a serious complaint or even worse suggesting that the people of Middleham police their own community.

"This would effectively mean taking over the role of North Yorkshire Police, a service for which we are paying and which costs the community dearly."

It was also felt the offer of an autumn meeting illustrated the priority given to complaints from small rural communities.

The mayor, Coun Tammi Tolhurst, has also written to William Hague MP and sent him copies of all the correspondence so far.

In this letter, she pointed out that dissatisfaction with the level of policing in the area was highlighted in the survey carried out for the Vital Villages project. She added: "The cost of policing continues to increase year on year, but the service, in small rural communities, continues to decline.

"Rural rate payers are tired of helping to fund all these so called improvements and initiatives.

"The greatly-trumpeted successes must only apply to the urban conurbations as there is no evidence of any improvements in Middleham.

"Paying for a service one does not receive can only cause resentment."