DURHAM Constabulary's decision to press ahead with sweeping changes to its operations has angered councillors in the south of the county.

The police authority has given its backing to a blueprint to reshape the face of the force over the coming year. The force says it hopes to free up to 100 officers for front-line duties by conducting the shake-up.

Moves agreed at the authority's annual meeting included the present six territorial divisions being replaced by two - one based in Darlington for the south of the county and the other in Chester-le-Street, serving the north.

The control room at force headquarters at Aykley Heads, Durham City, will deal with calls to police in the north and a new centre at Bishop Auckland will handle 999 and routine calls in the south.

Durham Constabulary said the new framework would be allied to increased patrols and speedier intelligence gathering and distribution, with information used to target persistent criminals, drug dealers and violent offenders.

Chief constable Paul Garvin said beefed-up teams of detectives and uniformed officers would be available to mount more crime-fighting operations.

More resources would be committed to tackling domestic violence and child and family protection issues.

Mr Garvin said: "Put simply, our reforms will cut the number of chiefs to provide more workers. Hopefully, the public will be reassured by the sight of more officers on the streets, spending more time tackling the problems of crime and anti-social behaviour that so often blight community life."

But councillors in the south of the county who disagreed with the changes during the consultation period are aggrieved that the plans are going ahead.

Coun Bill Dixon, deputy leader of Darlington Council and a member of the Durham Police Authority, said the new system was doomed to fail.

He said: "It was tried in the south of the county in the early Nineties - it did not work then and I don't think it will work now. It will fail to deliver for the people of Darlington and the surrounding districts of Teesdale, Sedgefield and Wear Valley.

"It makes a mockery of all the partnerships we have established with the police."

Coun Dixon said he would prefer to see Darlington as a stand-alone force.

"It is big enough," he said. "Darlington makes up 20 per cent of the population of the Durham Constabulary area.

"We have to ask whether our future lies with an integrated Tees Valley force."

Coun Doris Jones, who was chairman of the former Darlington Crime Prevention Panel, said: "I still feel very strongly that moving the telephone system to Bishop Auckland is going to have an effect on the people of Darlington. I only hope to goodness I am proved wrong, but I don't think it will help Darlington one iota.