POLICE may ask Knutsford people to vote on what problems they wanted sorting out.

Inspector Craige Arterton said officers planned to hold a series of meetings where residents would be asked to name the top 10 trouble spots in their street.

"It's quite a focused way of working," he said.

Everyone at the meeting would then be asked to put a sticker next to the problem they wanted targeting.

On Thursday Inspector Arteton said he had seen the meetings work well on a recent visit to Sussex police.

"It will not necessarily be what the police need to tackle, but what we are going to tackle together as a community," he said.

Inspector Arteton hopes a meeting will be held in each ward in Knutsford. Where that is not possible two wards will be combined.

The police inspector took up his post in Knutsford last week as part of a restructuring of Cheshire Police.

Knutsford will have 10 more officers when the county-wide shake-up is complete.

Three sergeants will be based at the Toft Road station - two more than before.

There will be a community action team of seven constables and a 10-man investigation team of detectives and other officers.

Traders and shoppers will also see more police patrolling the town. "They can expect to see more foot patrols," said Inspector Arteton, 43.

"But it won't simply be officers walking round without a purpose."

Inspector Arteton, a married father-of-two, lived in Carrwood, Knutsford, for three years after he joined the police.

He patrolled Wilmslow and occasionally Knutsford, but was recently based at Cheshire HQ in Winsford.

On Thursday he said Cheshire Police wanted residents to get to know local officers and hoped for more consistency in their ranks.

"We are hoping for some stability now," he said. "We are trying to leave people in post for at least two years."

amoores@guardiangrp.co.uk