Policing in the area faces a massive shake-up as the six Leeds police divisions are rearranged in to just four.

Weetwood police division, which takes in Otley, Wharfedale, Aireborough and Horsforth, is set to become part of a new division with Pudsey as part of a Police Authority review.

At the moment Weetwood serves more than 160,000 people and the Pudsey division covers 115,000 people.

Together, the one division, Pudsey/Weetwood, will serve more than 275,000 people and only 12 extra officers will be provided.

But Inspector Mark Hartley, who has taken over from Inspector Andy Oddy as Community Police Officer for the area, is trying to reassure people that the changes will provide a better service.

He said: "I would say to people not to worry about the reorganisation because we are still going to police the area with the same budget and the same amount of officers and no reduction in the number of staff we have.

"We will be combining resources and you can achieve so much more by doing that."

The four new areas roughly correspond with the north, east, south and west of the city and they will come in to force on April 1.

The Killingbeck and Chapeltown divisions will stay the same but Millgarth will merge with Holbeck to form a City and Holbeck division.

Margaret Atkinson, vice chairman of the Otley, Aireborough and Horsforth Community Police Forum, said that the huge area created by the reorganisation could lead to problems.

Mrs Atkinson, who lives in Guiseley, said: "I do think that it is a very vast area that will be covered and I worry that resources are stretched enough at the moment.

"Whether this is good news is yet to be seen, but I just hope that the police can cope with such a vast area.

"People are already concerned that they do not see enough bobbies on the beat."

But Insp Hartley said that he wanted people to be sure that the changes would not affect the service they get from the police. He said: "People should not worry about these changes because the level of service that we provide will be no less than before the changes. The whole point is to improve what we do and get better value.

"It is not about cutting budgets or closing police stations - it is about doing things better so that a better service is provided.

"Weetwood will be the headquarters for the division and we are gaining 12 officers, but that is to cater for covering the city centre, so many are local officers who already police the likes of Hyde Park."

The changes are the outcome of the Leeds Best Value review which has been led by the Police Authority and has been ongoing for the last 12 months.

The Local Government Act 1999 requires Police Authorities to produce a Best Value Performance Plan since it is the authorities that are ultimately accountable to local communities for ensuring that they obtain best value from their police service.

Authorities, in consultation with the Chief Constable, review all of their services to ensure that there is continuous improvement in the delivery of those services.