COUNCILLORS in the village that is home to a new Police HQ have raised concerns about the drop in PCSO's on patrol.

At their monthly meeting on Wednesday, members of Llay Community Council said they were disappointed to find out the two officers that have served the community in recent years were being moved on and Llay will now need to share two PCSO's with nearby Gwersyllt.

Cllr Bryan Apsley said one of the two new officers was already based in Gwersyllt and would remain focused there, while the other had been difficult to establish contact with so far, with no police presence at the meeting to discuss crime figures.

He said: "We only found out at the beginning of February that we were losing both Abi and Andy (former PCSO's) which is as a result of Wrexham Council making changes to their budget which means they are now only paying for four PCSO's."

Cllr Sharon Roberts said she found it very disappointing that Llay had not been told of the plans to reduce the number of PCSO's on patrol when Gwersyllt Community Council were told at their meeting in the beginning of January because Inspector Steve Owens is a regular attendee.

She said: "Inspector Owens goes to meetings at Gwersyllt quite a lot, in fact he's been to six out of ten meetings in the last 12 months. And at their meeting in January, he told them about the plans to reduce PCSO numbers.

"I find it really disappointing that this information was not passed on to us in the same way."

At that meeting of Gwersyllt Community Council on January 9, Inspector Owens reported that the PCSO service was in the process of being restructured because North Wales Police had recently advertised for the appointment of 32 PCSO investigators, which would result in a reduction in local policing teams.

Cllr Roberts added: "The minutes of the meeting say that at this stage, it is likely that PCSO numbers for the Wrexham Rural area will reduce from 32 to 20, with a new model of working introduced aimed at developing the concept of preventative policing and ensuring deployment in areas were it was most needed.

"I think we need to write a letter to them (North Wales Police) about this because there should be no difference in community councils, after all, we all pay the same don't we?"

The councillors agreed to write a letter to Carl Foulkes, chief constable for North Wales Police asking for communication channels to be improved and outlining concerns about the potential impact reduced policing numbers will have, especially in a community that is home to a new modern headquarters.

Cllr Dennis Owen: "What's ridiculous about this is that we've got the police headquarters here, but we haven't got a police officer patrolling the village at the moment."