More than 40 new bobbies are set to pound Kent's streets this year.

Savings made by the county's police force mean there is an extra £1m to £1.5m in the pot. That equates to 44 new constable posts.

It comes after the so-called Winsor Review Part One, which gave recommendations on the force's spending.

Chief Constable Ian Learmonth is said to be upbeat about the future.

He said: "We planned early in Kent for the £50m saving we needed to make.

"We are on track on delivering those savings, and Kent has also seen an overall reduction in crime in the past year of around 4%.

"Recommendations from the Winsor Review mean that any savings made will mean we will be in a position much earlier than expected to recruit more officers."

It comes after a recruitment freeze was imposed. But joint work with Essex police, steamlining back office roles and a general restructure has meant the force has put more police into the communties, focusing on reducing crime.

The new officers will be additional to 20 new posts announced earlier this year, with the latest batch being recruited in the autumn.

The savings come from various sources, including:

• Shift allowances only being paid to officers working on shift, rather than to all officers
• Annual police salary increases suspended until April 2014
• The abolitionof Special Priority payments
• Overall crime in Kent falling by 4% in the last year
• Cash from confiscation of goods and cash from criminals.

As a result of the Government spending review, Kent has so far slashed the equivalent of 225 full-time police posts, with a further 472 jobs cut from regular staff since 2010.