MALVERN'S Police/Community Consultative Group will continue despite a threat by its chairman to wind the group up.

Les Eaton said last month that he planned to put forward a motion to end the group. He said numbers at meetings were falling because members were dissatisfied with the response of police to issues raised.

In fact, by the time it met this week at Malvern Girls' College, Mr Eaton said he had received a lot of support for keeping the group going, although he was still concerned about the police taking on board some of its concerns.

"We can't decry that things have improved dramatically since community safety and the police got together," said Mr Eaton.

"But people have lost faith in being able to communicate with the police force because they don't appear to be listened to."

John Young said it was time to draw a line under the past and start a new era of co-operation, but it had to be two-way.

Insp Sharon Gibbons, who is in charge of policing in the Malvern area, accused the meeting of "police bashing".

"It's impossible to address general issues," she said. "It does seem like police bashing rather than constructive communication which I can take away."

Members agreed that at the group's next meeting in October it would set up a smaller committee which would be better able get its point across to the police.

Insp Gibbons reported that in the five months since April crime in the Malvern Hills was down 11 per cent as against the same period last year.

That was 125 less crimes, with burglaries of homes down 38 per cent and vehicle crime down 23 per cent.

Detection rates for the same period were 29.7 per cent, below the target of 32 per cent.