POLICE community meetings are being undermined by a lack of local beat officers, a councillor has said.

Attended by police and council representatives, Police and Community Together, or Pact, meetings are held to allow residents to discuss concerns specific to their local areas.

However, the temporary lack of a neighbourhood beat team in the Haughton area of Darlington is having a negative impact – both on the meetings and on the area in general, according to ward councillor Andrew Scott.

He said: “We have a regular PCSO assigned to the patch and she’s wonderful but she’s only one person and she’s not there 24-7.

“Haughton is a ward of significant size with over 10,000 properties and we’ve gone six months without regular staffing of the neighbourhood police team.

“Because of a lack of resources, they are drafting in officers from other patches who are not familiar with this specific area and our issues.

“If there’s no neighbourhood beat team, it undermines the whole concept of it, and of PACT meetings.

“There’s no police visibility and residents are becoming concerned – I’d like to see regular, consistent staffing of the neighbourhood.”

A spokeswoman from Durham Constabulary said: “Police officers’ attendance at PACT meetings is governed by policing requirements and, therefore, it is not always possible for the same officer to attend every meeting in a particular area.

“We do not have the luxury of one police officer per ward.

“There has been no significant reduction in the number of neighbourhood officers. Only one officer has moved on to another role and will be replaced in the new year.”