POLICE chiefs last night pledged Police Community Support Officers will remain on the beat but admitted their numbers will shrink due to swingeing budget cuts.

West Yorkshire Police Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson and West Yorkshire Temporary Chief Constable Dee Collins reiterated the value of PCSOs after some reports questioned whether they would be axed entirely by the force.

Mr Burns-Williamson insisted there will still be a "substantial" number of PCSOs in Neighbourhood Policing Teams in coming years.

And TCC Collins said: "I want to be absolutely clear, that PCSOs remain a highly valued and integral part of our policing plans both now and in the years ahead."

There are 161 PCSOs in Bradford, 248 in Leeds, 95 in Kirklees, 70 in Wakefield and 38 in Calderdale but guaranteed funding for them runs out at the end of March next year.

Mr Burns-Williamson said: "I want to emphasise my commitment to neighbourhood policing and the future of PCSOs.

"Protecting neighbourhood policing is a key priority in my Police and Crime Plan and that is why I made a firm guarantee that funding for PCSOs would remain protected until 2016 and therefore I ring-fenced £17.8 million a year of core police funding to continue to pay for PCSOs across the county.

"Despite the severe cuts imposed by Government which will mean West Yorkshire Police's budget will have reduced by 30 per cent by 2016/17, I have always done everything I can to protect neighbourhood policing, of which PCSOs play a key role with police officers and partners.

"The Home Office as a unprotected department, which includes policing, will potentially have to find up to another 40 per cent of cuts over the next four years on top of what has already been cut.

"This will make it very difficult to maintain the current levels, but there will be still a substantial number of PCSOs as part of our neighbourhood policing teams over coming years."

TCC Collins also warned the number of PCSOs was unsustainable in future years and a recruitment freeze had been introduced to potential minimise job losses.

She said: "The feedback that we often receive from our communities and partners, really underlines the importance of their role and the difference they make in keeping the most vulnerable safer and feeling safer.

"It is a reality, however, that the organisation will have to reduce in size as we face significant reductions to our budget.

"As part of the Government austerity measures, the force must still find in the region of £2m before the end of the 2015-2016 financial year. A further £23.3m must then be delivered up to 2017.

"This is why we took early steps in November 2014 to freeze the intakes of PCSOs and minimise the potential of any job losses later down the line.

"Looking ahead, we will not be able to sustain the current numbers of PCSOs."

Nick Smart, chairman of West Yorkshire Police Federation which represents rank-and-file officers, said: "The force has to prioritise, we can't provide the same level of neighbourhood policing that we did four or five years ago.

"We can't deliver the same service with fewer staff, it's just not feasible. Every department within the force is having to reduce its budget and neighbourhood policing is no different.

"Unfortunately with 40 per cent of of budget cuts, staff cuts are going to have to be made. There are shrinking budgets and shrinking numbers of officers.

"There will be an impact on the service we deliver and also on public safety.

"We can't sustain the same number with the budget cuts."

Bradford Council spends about £750,000 a year on PCSOs in the district, which makes up 60 per cent of their total funding.

Council leader David Green warned the authority was having to make £60m of cuts in the next two financial years and where the savings will be found was still under discussion.

Councillor Green said: "There is nothing on paper at the moment to say that we would reduce, or not, the number of PCSOs, but that's not to say that that would not be an option.

"We are currently looking at budget proposals which will go out to consultation later this year.

"I'm neither confident or pessimistic on the future of the PCSOs in Bradford.

"As a Council, we have to make £60 million worth of cuts over the next two years. If you are making cuts of that level, you are going to have to look at services that are going to be under threat. Looking at PCSOs in isolation is not the right way of doing it."

Councillor Michael Walls (Con, Queensbury), a West Yorkshire Police and Crime Panel member, said: "I would like to know what the alternative is to PCSOs, what would they be replaced with?

"PCSOs are a visual reassurance. They are the only people on patrol on the streets these days. What is going to be done instead?"