Penistone Police Station is to remain open, Dr Alan Billings, the new South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, told members of Penistone Town Council.

But all officers will be briefed in Barnsley as part of a cost-saving exercise.

Dr Billings said there would be two teams, for the East and West areas. Each would have one Inspector, two sergeants and 17 constables, with an extra constable in the east.

He spoke of the financial strains on the police force and that added resources had been put into the child sex exploitation case at Rotherham. South Yorkshire Police had suffered low morale and there was more bad news to come.

More cuts were due to take place this year and as 85pc of spending was on people, that is the only area where cuts can be made.

At present there are two local police teams within a neighbourhood, one a response team handing 999 calls and a neighbourhood team. The two teams will now be put together and a layer of supervision taken out. All members of the team will have a neighbourhood focus, which will mean more officers and cars around. And new technology will enable officers to write reports whilst on the job rather than going back to an office.

Human Resources and IT departments are to be jointly run with Humberside to save money. And the police helicopter is being looked at “as it costs a fortune to run and is getting old.”