PENNINE Police have overspent by more than £150,000 because of the cost of policing the division.

Bosses have now put in place plans to manage the deficit which will be the first call on resources for this new financial year.

Bosses at the Lancashire Police Authority said the overspend was mainly due to the number of major incidents and events in the division in the latter half of the year.

Cash also went on special crime-fighting operations like the burglary crackdown Operation Firewall and on overtime payments.

Police chiefs have stressed that the overspend is not a major worry and will be dealt with in this year's budget.

David Brindle, Lancashire Constabulary's Director of Resources, said: "It is true that there is a slight overspend in Pennine Division caused partly by planned and partly by unplanned activities.

"Some of the special operations had an impact on overtime payments and some vacancies have been filled which has also had an impact.

"In previous years when we have had unfilled posts there has bit a bit of freedom for spending on overtime but in the last year we have come up to full staffing levels which has had a knock-on effect.

"The amount of overspend is not a major concern for us and is a small amount when you consider our total budget of £24m.

"We have plans in place to manage down the overspend and will do that mainly by monitoring our overtime payments this year."

The Pennine Division budget was to be discussed at a meeting of the Lancashire Police Authority's Resources Committee this week.