BURY police are to lose 19 front line officers because bosses say the division is over-staffed.

The move to redeploy the 18 constables and one sergeant to Manchester city centre has been condemned by the borough's two MPs, who are angry at the way the decision was made.

Now, Bury North MP David Chaytor and his Bury South counterpart Ivan Lewis are to meet Greater Manchester Police Authority (GMPA) chairman Derek Osbaldestin next Wednesday.

Also unhappy at the transfer is local Police Federation representative PC Andy Wright who said: "The police officers in Bury perform as well if not better than the rest of the force in all areas.

"Our reward for doing that is to lose police. Who suffers? The public who reside and work in our area."

But divisional commander, Chief Superintendent Garry Shewan, has defended the decision by disclosing that Bury has had 59 extra officers since 2000 and during the past 12 months numbers have been above the allocated level - understood to be 313 officers.