A police chief pledged this week that a new initiative to move the division's police officers to Shipley would not mark the end of Ilkley Police station.

Chief Superintendent Graham Sunderland, divisional commander of Keighley Police, told the Gazette he was restructuring the division.

"We are proposing officers still work in Ilkley but they will be briefed at Shipley. They will start at Shipley and then be deployed to Ilkley," he said.

"Officers at Ilkley have been out there on a limb, they are intelligence led and they need to have up to date information in relation to tackling crime. It is important that the officers get relatively up to date information and are deployed to where they are needed.

"The officers will benefit with having better information and access to more people and officers and equipment to what they have at the moment.

"They will only be briefed at Shipley and then they will be sent out to Addingham, Ilkley, Burley and Menston."

However, some parish councillors believe that the move is the first step in the closure of Ilkley police station and are not convinced by the measure.

Councillor Michael Lynes said: "I think that it is the thin edge of the wedge for the demise of Ilkley police station. A lot of people say that when they go to the police station it is closed and they have to call a contact phone number.

"When the inspector is on holiday we do not get a cover inspector - we just do not have one. Many other areas such as street cleaners started working from Keighley and when they have to report to a different area the travelling time from the briefing to the their place of work and back again at night means that their working day is reduced.

"I cannot see how it would be cost effective to do it. It is not a logical way, no other businesses would do that."

Addingham Parish Council chairman Gordon Campbell said: "I am told the police station in Ilkley is going to stay open but we will just have to wait and see." He said he had been to a meeting with senior police officers last year and was told that the three biggest drains on police resources were pensions, salaries and property in that order.

"You can't do much about one and two but you can about number three if they are looking to make savings - the building would be quite valuable," said Coun Campbell.

Chief Supt Sunderland stressed that Ilkley Police Station would not be closing as part of the restructuring process and that there were no plans to do so in the future.

"I do not want the people of Ilkley to worry about it. There will be people who will worry but we are actually improving the service for them.

"The officers who start at Ilkley also cover Baildon and from Shipley. They will be nearer one of their areas. There will always be someone in Ilkley because while some officers are being briefed at the start of their shift in Shipley others are already in Ilkley on a different shift. There are always officers out there and there will be more officers patrolling their areas.

"I cannot put more officers there, but by making them part of a big team, then I will be able to send officers to work over there."

The chairman of Ilkley Parish Council, Michael Gibbons, agreed with his sentiments. "I would have some sympathy with the view that centralised policing can be useful but as a long as there is adequate cover for the area whilst this is taking place," said Coun Gibbons.

"If this is to mean that there are greater numbers of officers available to patrol in the parish then I would be happy to see that. However, this is a situation which will need to be monitored carefully as there is a general dissatisfaction of people within the area that the number of officers available at any one time has reduced."

Chief Supt Sunderland said: "We have got to change, we are living in a changing society. The police have to move on we can not do our job on a cycle like in Heartbeat! Some people don't like change but this will be a change for the better. "

The changes will include prioritising calls and he is calling on Ilkley parents to take more responsibility for their children.

Many of the calls the police receive are regarding the behaviour of children in Ilkley and he believes it is time their parents took some control.

"We have got to prioritise calls for the people who really need us. We have even had someone call us to say they had ordered five chicken pieces from a takeaway and they had only got four," he added.