LANCASHIRE'S Chief Constable has criticised government plans for a shake-up of the force and branded them a "hotch potch" of ideas.

Pauline Clare said Home Secretary David Blunkett's plans for the police service, which include extra powers for civilian support staff and increasing government intervention in police matters, were a "simplistic approach to policing."

The chief's comments were part of a response of senior officers in Lancashire Constabulary to David Blunkett's reform plans White Paper which is currently being debated in the House of Lords.

Mrs Clare told a meeting of the police authority: "This is a simplistic view of the police. It is a hotch potch of things to do with the police and there is not a lot of account taken of our work with other partner organisations.

"I am very disappointed that there is no reference to road policing which is seen by the people of Lancashire as a very important issue. I am also disappointed by the lack of funding contained in these proposals. Mr Blunkett talks about the need for more information technology but there is no information about where the money might come from."

She also raised concerns about the increasing centralisation of police powers and about the role of the so-called Community Support Officers, civilian support staff who will support police in some of their work.

Mrs Clare said she would not want to see the CSOs given extra powers as it may prove "dangerous for them and for the police officers working alongside them."

It was also revealed at the meeting that for the first time all the chief constables and police authority chairmen of North West Forces had written a letter to David Blunkett raising their concerns about the proposed reforms.

The letter from Lancashire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales police said that though in the main there was support for the modernisation of the police service, there was also serious concern that the government was taking too great a role in police decisions which should be made at a more local level.

The Police Reform Bill is due to go to a House of Lords committee at the end of the month and then to the House of Commons in April or May.