MALVERN police will retain an office somewhere in town but the future of the Victoria Road station is still debatable, according to Insp Neville Sheldrick.

The new inspector said the location of such an office had yet to be decided.

"We intend to keep a police office in Malvern but we need something which is more suitable to the population's needs," he said.

"We have to ask are we in the right place here?

"We may consider that we need to be up in the town centre or down in the Link."

Insp Sheldrick has been based at Malvern for two weeks, having taken over from Insp David Aitchison. He has lived in Worcestershire all his life and was quality assurance manager at Worcester Police Station.

His current role is to manage policing in the Malvern Hills area and, although he has had some new ideas about how to carry that, he is waiting until he finishes his assessment of the area before making any changes.

"I'm making an assessment of where any problems may be and I haven't got to the end of that process," he said.

Insp Sheldrick said he would be boosting police presence in Malvern by walking the town's streets himself.

"I feel quite strongly that we need to provide a presence on the streets and we will be doing that, he said. "I will be including the managers in this, the sergeants and myself.

"I will go out on patrol but people can't expect to see me eight hours a day, seven days a week. It will be as when I can."

Insp Sheldrick said he was satisfied with 20-minute response time to 999 calls in the district.

"I don't think more police would improve it," he said. "I don't know how we could improve it and I'm not sure we necessarily have to improve it."