MORE police staff could be on their way back to Barnsley’s four neighbourhood hubs, according to plans outlined by the town’s top officer.

Teams at Barnsley town centre, Goldthorpe, Kendray and Royston have been in operation for a year since South Yorkshire Police performed a U-turn on its previous cost-cutting plan which came into force in 2015 and brought the neighbourhood structure back.

Since officers were redeployed in Barnsley - the first South Yorkshire district to have them back - levels of antisocial behaviour have fallen by 21 per cent and officers have also recorded positive results with operations to combat house burglary and rural crime.

Ch Supt Scott Green revealed that further work is going on behind the scenes to boost numbers at the hubs.

“The neighbourhood teams are becoming embedded in their local communities and feedback has been positively received on their presence and impact,” he said.

“As the first district to reintroduce fully-staffed teams, Barnsley PCSOs and officers have been providing a visible presence within their local areas and have been developing relationships with the public in order to support individuals and families.

“Further work is ongoing regarding how the safer neighbourhood service (SNS) will develop in 2018/19, with the aspiration to invest more staff into neighbourhood policing.

“Since the reintroduction of neighbourhood policing, the development of the SNS and an innovative approach to civil legislation has seen a 21 per cent reduction in antisocial behaviour across Barnsley.”

Across South Yorkshire, there are now 14 inspectors, 33 sergeants, 125 police constables and 223 PCSOs - figures which will hopefully rise when an ongoing review into last year’s restructure concludes.

“We are also developing shift patterns to further complement the work of neighbourhood teams and are working to identify and share best practice among districts to enhance the service we offer to the public,” Ch Supt Green added.

“Following the conclusion of this next phase of work, we will look to perform an evaluation of neighbourhood policing’s function, which we anticipate will be towards the end of 2018.”

The new neighbourhood model, which includes police working alongside Barnsley Council staff in the four hubs, was rated highly in the police’s latest Your Voice Counts survey, which took place from January to March.

Figures revealed 39 per cent of Barnsley people think the force does a good or excellent job, 56 per cent of people have trust in the police, 31 per cent agree the force deals with things that matter in communities and 65 per cent agree that the police treat everyone fairly.

Sg Brad Wynne, who is in charge of the Kendray-based team, said the potential for more officers to be introduced was another positive step.

“It’s a very good thing and it is needed,” he told the Chronicle. “We’re doing a good job on limited resources at the minute - for example, before 2015, areas such as Royston, Cudworth and Mapplewell each had a sergeant and each had a team of PCSOs.

“There’s just one sergeant for that whole area now, so to have more staff would enable us to be more reactive than proactive and would allow us to engage more with the public. It’ll be well-received by everyone.”