PARISH councillors in Pewsey are claiming that statistics provided by Wiltshire police prove the village is not as well policed as Marlborough, and they are demanding at least one extra officer.

Councillors refused to accept assurances from Chief Insp Ian Hobbs on the way Pewsey is patrolled and say it is under-policed.

In a letter clerk Lindsay Mason makes it clear that councillors are still concerned at policing levels in the village.

The letter points out that his assertion that Pewsey gets 32 hours cover each week other than that given by the sergeant or rural intelligence officers, means that only one of the two normal shifts has a community beat presence, and that it is unlikely that preventative policing, can realistically be provided.

The letter says: "Pewsey only has a complement of four PCs for a quoted incident figure of 180, but Marlborough with an incident figure of approximately 400, has 15 PCs.

"If the strategy is to be credible, and based on statistical evidence, it must be seen to be fairly distributed.".

"The council still finds it incredible that under the quoted 20 extra PCs allocated for Kennet, Pewsey does not qualify for a single one, but actually loses one.

"Effective policing can only be achieved by actual physical presence and Pewsey itself surely deserves better than 32 hours a week."

The parish council says it wants a fairer share of the overall resources .

"The very minimum the council respectfully suggests is for Pewsey itself to have at least one extra PC to provide cover for each of the day and evening shifts, not either or as at present."