A CONTROVERSIAL decision to axe a Friday night police patrol in Bolton town centre was 'not taken lightly', according to the chief constable of Greater Manchester Police.

Sir Peter Fahy defended the move saying that police chiefs have been forced to take difficult decisions because they have fewer officers.

At the start of last month, Bolton was left with no dedicated police presence on Fridays and a borough-wide response unit was instead tasked with dealing with breaking incidents.

Police chiefs in Bolton said the withdrawal of the unit, which was most commonly based in a van in Nelson Square, was made after a recent drop in crime.

Mr Fahy said: "We need the right balance between officers in cars and on foot to respond quickly to incidents. When we have fewer officers, having more in cars means they can cover more ground. We can't have what might be the luxury of a foot patrol. That is very hard for us as we know people want to see officers on the streets.

"Officers on patrol can pick up tensions and see what is going on in town centres. These are not easy decisions and are not ones we have taken lightly because we fancy trying a different policing style.

"There are hard decisions we have to make every single day about what is the most effective thing we can do with a smaller group of officers."

The team that has now been removed from the Friday night duty was working under Operation BAND — Bolton Against Night-time Disorder.

BAND will continue, however, and a unit will stay in the town centre on Saturday nights, when police say they are busier.

The changes to Friday night policing took effect on June 1. There has been no change to the number of officers on duty on Fridays, but they are now available to respond to incidents across the borough instead of concentrating solely on the town centre.

The Bolton News reported in December how a group of police, licensees and council officers that was formed to deal with disorder in the town centre had succeeded in slashing crime.

Police and crime commissioner, Tony Lloyd, said: "Bolton is the success story. About 18 months ago on Fridays it had a very bad reputation.

"This led to police officers in the middle of this getting together with licensees to quieten down the town centre and it has been really successful."