A senior police chief believes a newly-proposed policing model will be seen as an "improvement" despite planning to axe PCSO numbers by a half.

Kent Police announced its plans to re-shape its neighbourhood policing model in a meeting with those whose jobs could be impacted yesterday.

As it stands, there are 336 PCSO and support staff positions but the reshuffle will look to reduce that by 69% to 104, supplemented by an extra 134 warranted officers placed in a similar role.

The proposal, which has been criticised by Unison, is now the subject of a 60-day consultation in which the 205 people affected and their union representatives can raise concerns and queries.

Deputy Chief Constable Peter Ayling said: "It's important to recognise this is an unsettling time for people who for many years have done a valuable role, so we have spent a lot of time to describe the new proposals to them.

"My absolute commitment is to work with them and consider every option short of them facing redundancy."

All affected staff members were invited to Ashford International Hotel yesterday where they were briefed on the proposals.

Unison, which represents civilian staff and PCSOs at Kent Police, claims the retained PCSOs will not be connected to communities as they are now.

Ian Pointon, branch secretary of Unison for Kent Police, said with an estimated budget black hole next year of £16m-£20m, the motivation for the decision was financial rather than about improving the service.

Mr Ayling admitted the changes would save millions, but stressed they would also lead to other improvements.

He said: "We’ve been honest and open with staff from the outset the time is right to review our model.

"We believe this proposal will give us the opportunity to enhance our local service delivery, to better tackle local priorities and to achieve savings of up to £6.7 million.

"If we don’t find savings in this programme there will be other programmes where we will need to look even harder."

Commenting on yesterday's announcement, Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott said it had been "a very difficult day" for the PCSOs.

"This is not a proposal that has been taken lightly," he added. "It's not a proposal which, if the economic climate were better, we would probably have pursued in the same way."

By next year, Kent Police is looking to increase the number of officers to 4,145 – the highest in its history.

However, there are concerns about how these new PCs will be used.

Currently, specialist officers are being asked to take on roles outside their usual remit to deal with demand in other areas.

Mr Pointon warned that extra officers going into neighbourhood policing could easily be withdrawn again to fulfil other duties, which he says did not happen with PCSOs.

In responce, Mr Ayling said: "There are many changes taking place across the force.

"The point about neighbourhood policing is how can we avoid officers from being extracted from their core role in local areas?

"I can only say at the moment my firm commitment is that the officers used for neighbourhood policing will be ring-fenced so they are solely available exclusively for that role, except in the most extreme of circumstances."

PCSOs have been dubbed the "bedrock" of neighbourhood policing but with a reduced number many are concerned that this link between people and the police will be lost.

But Mr Ayling said he thought there would be a noticeable improvement.

"Under the new proposal, an appointed police officer will have the same emphasis to identify and respond to local priorities – the difference is they come with the ability to take enforcement action.

"I am very confident that the proposed new model will be something the public will notice and recognise as an improvement."