GRAVE concern has been expressed by councillors over police presence in trouble-spots around South Bucks.

South Bucks district councillors turned out in force to fire questions about their concerns to top-ranking police officers.

Jennifer Woolveridge, chairman of Gerrards Cross Parish Council, told the community and leisure meeting last week that she was "deeply concerned" about the numbers of beat officers on patrol in the village.

She said: "What we are keen on is not just having a patrol car going whoosh through the village. We need someone on foot patrol walking round the problem areas."

A recent documentary on Channel Four highlighted the high levels of car theft in South Bucks, which was rated as being nearly three times the national average and domestic burglary rates in the worst 20 per cent of the country.

Superintendent Rob Beckley, commander for the Chiltern Vale Area, said: "The reality is that we only have one community officer to around 3,000 members of the public, although we do discriminate to rural areas because we recognise the problems of the fear of crime there.

"We have to be able to cover all the different shifts, taking into account sickness and all the other areas of policing so it is a difficult situation."

Cllr Woolveridge said that she was also greatly concerned by the lack of a more permanent traffic warden to combat illegal parking.

But Supt Beckley said the traffic warden had a large area to cover and although she was mobile through the use of a van the job was extremely stressful and she had been off sick for five weeks.

Leader of the council, Trevor Egleton, said: "For months now we have been appealing to the Thames Valley Police to increase policing in the South Bucks District.

"We believe that this is not just a performance issue but also one of police resources. If police officers locally are not available in sufficient numbers, then it is impossible for them to be effective. We shall be pressing both the chief constable and the Government to recognise that South Bucks has been starved of police resources."