Cheshire's police commissioner will be quizzed this week on how he proposes to protect the roles of PCSOs following the chief constable's decision to axe 60 posts.

An extraordinary meeting of the county's police and crime panel, which scrutinises the work of the police commissioner's office, will be held in Crewe on Friday 9 January.

The only item on the agenda is to seek 'urgent clarification' from police and crime commissioner Dan Price on the steps he is taking to safeguard the roles and numbers of police community support officers (PCSO) across Cheshire.

The plan to axe up to 70 per cent of the county's PCSOs has sparked an angry backlash from politicians and the public.

MPs including Aphra Brandreth (Chester South and Eddisbury, Con) and Connor Naismith (Crewe & Nantwich, Lab) had raised concerns about it.

Both Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East full councils recently backed a motion calling on the force to reconsider the proposal.

The PCC made it clear just before Christmas he was 'disappointed' with Chief Constable Mark Roberts' decision to press ahead with proposals to reduce the number of PCSO posts from 87 to 27 across the county.

Shortly after it was announced, the commissioner issued a statement saying, while he cannot interfere in operational policing decisions made by the chief constable, he had now put forward a funding solution that could potentially save 10 PCSOs.

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Cheshire Police says it needs to save £13 million over the next four years (Image via: Cheshire Police)

Mr Price added: "Whatever happens my commitment to a named PCSO or police officer in every neighbourhood remains unchanged.

"On top of that, those numbers will increase from 251 in April 2025 to 326 in 2026, which includes 51 new recruits, as a result of the government's neighbourhood policing guarantee."

Cheshire Police says it needs to save £13 million over the next four years and reducing the number of PCSOs will also allow it to redeploy warranted police officers into local policing teams.

The force confirmed last month the latest proposal from the commissioner was being considered.

This week's extraordinary meeting of Cheshire's police and crime panel takes place at 10am on Friday 9 January at Crewe Municipal Buildings.