PLANS to close a police front counter have been slammed by an MP and town council leader.

Greater Manchester Police proposes to shut Horwich Police Station's enquiry office – leaving Bolton Central Police Station in Scholey Street as the only manned desk available.

Cllr Joyce Kellett, Horwich Town Council leader, said: "I would oppose it. There's no reason for it, considering that Horwich is growing by up to 2,000 new homes and yet these kind of public services are diminishing.

"The police are trying to get people to go online more but many older people don't have access to a computer.

"I think the public should get together on this because we need an increase in access to the police, not a decrease."

The public enquiry counter (PEC) at Horwich Police Station at Middlebrook is earmarked for closure because it is one of 10 least visited across Greater Manchester.

But even those that remain open would see their opening hours reduced from the current 8am to 11pm every day to 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday and 10am to 6pm at weekends.

Chris Green, Conservative MP for Bolton West, said: "Again we see the centralisation of services away from local residents which makes them far less accessible. Horwich residents get the extra housing and traffic but don’t now even keep what local services they have."

GMP's public consultation and survey on the changes ends on Monday after which responses will be evaluated and a decision made.

Horwich Town Council requested further information from GMP on the closure proposal after hearing a "rumour" earlier this month.

However, no details were forthcoming and the September 12 council meeting passed without elected members being able to discuss it.

The next opportunity for the council to debate the plans is at its meeting at the beginning of October by which time the consultation will have finished.

Councillor Kellett said: "We have had no response to date so how can we consider things when we haven't got information about what is proposed? What's more worrying is: what more do we not know?"

In a statement, Greater Manchester Police said: "Where PECs are proposed to close, members of the public will still be able to receive support from PECs in a number of ways."

The force said this includes the GMP website, the remaining counters and yellow phones outside police station that connect to staff.

Members of the public will still be able to attend appointments at Horwich Police Station even if the counter closes.