DESPITE a poor start to Nelson's weekly police surgeries the meetings are being continued for a further two months.

The surgeries, which are held on Mondays in the town's Building Bridges Centre, in Market Street, were facing the axe after a lack of interest from the public, but officers decided on a last minute reprieve when they received an influx of visitors to the last two surgeries.

They are now appealing for residents to make the most of the new series of surgeries which will run from Monday, September 10 to November 5.

PC Naz Khan, from Pennine's Community Safety Team, said: "Our officers do a lot of work in the community, but people don't always feel comfortable approaching a police officer when they are patrolling. That's why we decided to set aside some time especially for talking to people about their concerns.

"On the whole the response to the surgeries has been satisfactory and I hope we have managed to help a good number of people with their various queries and concerns. However we did have a couple of weeks where very few people came which is why we debated whether or not to continue."

Surgeries will be held between 10am and noon on September 10 and 24, October 8 and 22 and November 5 and between 4pm and 6pm on September 17 and October 1, 15 and 29.