A COUNTY councillor has blasted West Mercia Police chiefs who she says are failing in their efforts to tackle rising crime in Ludlow.

Councillor Vivienne Parry said the number of officers working in the area is so low that residents can no longer rely on the police to respond to the levels of local crime.

Speaking at the recent West Mercia Police and Crime Panel meeting, she also suggested Police and Crime Commissioner John-Paul Campion should visit the town because policing is not working there.

“I’m sorry but you’ve not helped us in Ludlow,” she said.

“We have more burglaries. We have more people breaking into people’s houses, we have more people who can’t rely on the police because somebody has snatched all the different things off their cars.

“It is very poor actually. So how can you say by doing what you are doing it is going to make it better?

"I can’t see that at all. You really should come to Ludlow and have a little word because it is not working.”

Mr Campion said he fundamentally disagreed with coun Parry’s description of policing in Ludlow and said the strategic alliance breakup with Warwickshire would lead to more resources for West Mercia to tackle crime.

He said: “I’ve been out with response officer and the safe neighbourhood team.

“I would hope coun Parry recognises that this is about using our resources more effectively to help keep our communities safe.”

The Ludlow South councillor also said she was astounded that Mr Campion did not know how much funding West Mercia Police would save by breaking its strategic alliance with Warwickshire.

Coun Parry also asked if severing the alliance would lead to redundancies within the force.

“You must have known in 2017 or you wouldn’t have gone along this course,” she said.

“It astounds me that such clever people would not know what they were going to save.

“It worries me when you say about reduction of duplication of roles and resources.

“A lot of us who are in small communities and worry about the amount of police, the way it has been reduced.

“They are having to work very hard in somewhere like Ludlow with maybe two policemen on each ten-hour shift that cover a very large area.

“I do really honestly think that you are trying to pull a little bit of the wool over our eyes by saying that you don’t know what you are going to have efficiency savings on and how much the cost will be."

Mr Campion said the alliance breakup was not about reducing front-line officers.

He said: “This is about being more effective and efficient with what we have got now.

“You mention the reductions we have had, well you would expect me on behalf of the good residents of Ludlow to be effective with those resources.

“You have just heard from the chief constable and me that we can’t say that we are at the moment.

“Some of those resources which are West Mercia’s are being sucked to go and police somewhere else.”