Community leaders are hoping that they can forge a closer working relationship with their police officers following a meeting between high-ranking officials.

Cumbria's Police and Crime Commissioner Peter McCall met with members of the Aspatria Rural Partnership to listen to their concerns about anti-social behaviour and other policing matters.

The partnership, a collaboration of parish councils, hope that the meeting will yield a stronger relationship in the future.

Mr McCall said: “I was really keen to show that I take these concerns very seriously, and reassure the public that I do listen to them.

"I was pleased to be able to go along and meet councillors Bill Finlay, Jim Lister, Duncan Fairburn and other members of the partnership, and hear what they had to say about policing in their local areas.

“The meeting was also a perfect opportunity for me to introduce the new Allerdale district police inspector Rachel Gale who has taken up this new role as part of the revised neighbourhood policing structure brought in by the constabulary to ensure we are focusing on and dealing with local issues.

"Rachel will be Allerdale’s dedicated neighbourhood Inspector. The Chief Constable and I are determined to enable the police to focus more on neighbourhood issues and problems.

“I am very aware how important neighbourhood policing is to the public and for this reason I have funded four of the new neighbourhood inspector posts, these are additional police posts to increase our number.

"This is a significant change to our neighbourhood policing teams. I know from the people that I meet and talk to, that many see neighbourhood policing a key factor in keeping their communities safe."

The commissioner will be returning to the town on Thursday to host a public surgery. It will be at the Local Links office, Brandraw between 2pm and 4pm.

Inspector Rachel Gale said: “As the new inspector for the Allerdale district area it was a really good opportunity to meet those from the Aspatria Rural Partnership who, like us, are committed to improving the quality of life for those in the local area.

“By working together we can tackle local issues holistically and provide a service that our communities deserve.” Councillor Bill Finlay, who chairs the partnership said: "We had a frank exchange of views leading to an agreement in principle to develop practical ways we can work together while recognising constraints on both sides.

"Our first agreed initiative is that police officers will commit to attend bi-monthly partnership meetings at which local representatives can feed community concerns to the new Allerdale police team, who in turn will be able to feed their views and advice back to communities via parish and town councillors."