Haworth people fear for the future without a police station and village based officer.

A petition of 1,354 signatures has been collected opposing West Yorkshire Police's review plans to close the station and base the beat constable at Keighley.

Keighley police's Inspector Steve Allsop, who was standing in for divisional commander Chief Superintendent Derek Bonnard, insisted that Haworth's policing would not suffer. He told last Friday's public meeting, attended by about 80 residents of Haworth, Crossroads, Stanbury and Oxenhope that no "operational" police station would close.

He added: "Haworth is a police office. Details have not been finalised yet. We are looking at alternative premises and have suggested using the local church as a contact point."

Beat officer PC Glyn Butterworth has already been moved to Keighley but is working three days a week at Haworth. A new Keighley-based POP (problem-orientated policing) team will also cover Haworth and Insp Allsop said a car would continue to regularly patrol the village.

But Trevor Craven, of Haworth Traders' Association, said: "We've had a lot of serious crime in Haworth recently -- an armed raid in Main Street, a lady attacked in the park, one attacked in the church and a resident viciously attacked.Do we need a murder before we can act on this?"

Others residents dismissed figures stating that Haworth's police office received less than two calls a week on average, saying PC Butterworth actually received so many calls he had to unplug the answer phone.

But Insp Allsop insisted there would be no reduction in frontline policing.

The £ million saved in reducing Bradford's five police districts to three would be ploughed back into frontline officers, he added.

Cllr Clive Richardson, of the West Yorkshire Police Authority, revealed: "The number of constables has decreased in the last four years by 310." But he added: "The whole crime-fighting format the Government is putting together is increasing the number in West Yorkshire."

He said that retirements and the duration of officer training, though, mean it might be three years before the impact of new recruits were felt.

Cllr Richardson said some Government funding for policing had been withheld to be ring-fenced for other initiatives.

He hoped to raise the police council tax precept from £58.50 a year to the "early £60s."