A community police panel has written to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe imploring him to protect neighbourhood policing.

In a fresh wave of spending cuts announced in October HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) said it would need to make major changes to the way police forces are work and maintaining neighbourhood policing would likely be a “challenge”.

The Met expects to need to save at least £800 million over the next four years, which could rise further with the impending Spending Review.

Worcester Park police safer neighbourhood team ward panel, who fear they will lose their PCSO Gary Weaving, met following the HMIC announcement to pen their response.

Chairman Simon Densley wrote: “Regardless of the rights and wrongs of the situation, the main losers will be us, the public.

“We note also that the HMIC has criticised the police in general for expensive budget failures, poor planning on future staffing, wasteful computer systems and a paranoid fear of the private sector.

“We accept that money needs to be saved and these failures should be addressed before taking the axe to PCSO’s and the success of neighbourhood policing.”

He said that Worcester Park was an example of why it was important not to lose neighbourhood policing.

Mr Densley, who runs the Worcester Park blog and stood for the Conservatives at the last local elections, said: “Gary Weaving is our own dedicated PCSO and is well known in the local area and provides a valuable bridge between the police and the community.

“He knows the area well, he knows who the local trouble makers are and he knows who the local vulnerable people are.

“We believe his understanding of the local community is a source on invaluable intelligence which has been instrumental in helping bring and keep crime down in Worcester Park.

“It would not only be a terrible loss to our local community to lose PCSO Weaving, that loss would be hugely disproportionate to any financial gain from such a change.”

The HMIC report said that having been through change on an "unprecedented scale" since 2010, forces in England and Wales were preparing to lose another 7,400 officers over the next five years as well as 1,300 community support officers and 3,500 other staff.

It said: "Policing in five years' time is likely to look different to now and to 2010: smaller, less costly and perhaps less visible.

"Maintaining visible neighbourhood policing, rather than becoming a mainly reactive service, is likely to be a challenge - and the public will need reassurance if policing becomes less visible."

The Met police management board is considering a number of options which includes outline proposals to reduce the number of PCSOs as part of a comprehensive review into how policing services will be delivered over the coming years.

Commander Lucy D'Orsi, who is leading the neighbourhood policing project, said no decisions have been made on changes to core services, including PCSOs.

She said: “Like local communities we very much value PCSOs and their role in community engagement.

"They have been an integral part of the Safer Neighbourhoods model from the start.

"However, the financial pressures we are facing mean that we have a duty to consider all options available in order to meet those challenges and to ensure we deliver a quality policing service to London's communities."

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