Changes have been made to the way neighbourhood policing works in the north of Bolton with residents assured improvements will be made.

The northern area of town has now been split into three areas and shifts have been divided.

The north of Bolton area covers Queens Park across to Chorley Old Road, Horwich and Blackrod.

The three areas which it has been divided into includes a team covering the west, which is Chorley Old Road towards Johnson Fold and the middle team will cover Astley Bridge, Sharples and Bromley Cross.

The third team will cover Tonge Moor, Tonge Fold, Haugh and Breightmet.

The changes were outlined by neighbourhood police inspector for the area, Lisa Clarke, at a recent Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meeting in Astley Bridge.

She also admitted the performance of these teams had fallen short in recent years.

Insp Clarke said: “Neighbourhood policing has been done pretty poorly for quite a long time.

“You probably didn’t know who they were.

“They probably did not speak to you and did not take that much time in the area.

“They were secondary resource officers because of shortages.

“If you tackle a problem when it starts and get to grips with it where it starts you stop it before it becomes a big problem.

“The new Chief Constable (Greater Manchester Police's Stephen Watson) has given neighbourhood officers more staff.

“In this area there are now three shift patterns.

“Up until now the neighbourhood teams in Astley Bridge all worked the same shift.

“They might have worked Mondays and Tuesdays and had Wednesday and Thursday off.

“That has changed as they have been split into three teams.”

CC Stephen Watson recently launched a new neighbourhood policing model with Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.

As part of the new approach, 264 officers will be posted in these teams across the region.

During a week of action as part of this, neighbourhood officers arrested a man on suspicion of possession of a bladed article in a burglary hotspot.