CHESHIRE Chief Constable says painful budget cuts will be targeted to do the least damage to front line policing.

The reasurrance came at a meeting of Cheshire Police Authority when members considered the implications of the funding challenges facing policing in Cheshire.

Derek Bateman, chairman of the Finance Committee, said afterwards: “The meeting provided an opportunity for us to question chief constable Dave Whatton about the measures being put in place to make the necessary £36.5m cuts over the next four years. We were pleased to hear that the proposed financial plans should go some way to prevent these cuts from undermining front-line services.”

The chief constable outlined savings already made this year including work undertaken to partially freeze police officer recruitment, review internal process and better manage capital and estates.

There are plans under discussion to review senior police officer posts in order to ensure that the impact on front-line policing would be less affected than originally thought.

David Whatton said: “This is the most challenging period in policing I’ve seen in my career. We need to ensure we maintain the right people with the right skills in the right place to make sure that the service delivered to the public does not suffer as a result of the cuts required.

“This includes the people we employ to ensure that the organisational infrastructure is in place to support the front line.”

The draft budget which will be agreed on February 22 suggests that for 2011/12, £6.2m will have to be cut from the pay budget; £330,000 from overtime budgets, £3.6m from other non-pay budgets and significant reductions in the costs of estate management.

Steps have been taken to minimise the levels of employee cuts needed, revised estimates show that 62 police constable posts and 27 staff could be lost next financial year.

The Authority is seeking to maintain overall numbers of PCSOs at or above 215 posts in 2011/12 compared with the current 237 posts.

Derek Bateman added: “The decisions on February 22 will be tough but we’re confident everything is being done to ensure we can balance the budget, make the savings and continue to protect the public.”