THIRTY-five new police officers are being placed on community beats in East Lancashire - paid for with a 27p-a-week increase in council tax.

They are expected to start work throughout this financial year as new recruits come through the training programme.

In January, the council tax rise, bringing in an extra £2million to pay for 80 community beat managers across Lancashire, was announced.

It has been revealed that 17 of those will be in the Eastern Division, covering Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn and the Ribble Valley, and a further 18 in the Pennine Division for Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale.

Police services in Lancashire cost £216.8million. The government provides £177million and the rest has to come from the county's council-taxpayers.

A Lancashire Police Authority consultation found that people would pay more for improvements in community policing.

Community beat managers have been re-introduced over the past couple of years as police philosophy came 'full circle'. In the late 1990s, police removed beat bobbies to concentrate resources on responding to incidents.

But they were re-introduced after complaints from the public. The philosophy is now a mix of methods.

Community beat managers are given a 'patch' to patrol on foot, to reassure the public and solve long-term nuisance problems.

Chief Superintendent Dave Mallaby, of Eastern Division, said they had been "extremely well-received" and added: "I want more officers on the ground.

"It is something the public have been saying to us for years. It is my intention that people who have the role of community beat manager stay in that role for a significant period of time."

There are currently 68 community beat managers in East Lancashire, 33 in the Eastern Division, 35 in Pennine.