BOWNESS South is the latest area to benefit from its own dedicated police officer.

PC Kevin Robson, 50, started work this week under the Local Policing Team initiative, and will be a high-profile presence in the town. PC Robson said: "I will be responsible for the Bowness area, looking at all local problems, being a face that the locals get to know and can contact, and trying to stop crime and anti-social behaviour."

He said that Windermere would not lose out as he would also be able to respond to problems in the town. PC Robson worked in Windermere from 1997 to 2000 and has more recently been working as a detective constable with the area intelligence unit in Barrow. However, he said he wanted to return to the area and to front line policing: "I applied for the post because I wanted to get back to local policing and get policing back into the community.

"This post needs to be created because the people in Bowness need a local officer. There are a lot of properties, business and commercial properties, Windermere gets a lot of visitors - I know we have got problems but we will address them."

People spilling out of venues late at night was one problem area, however, PC Robson stressed that a multi-agency approach was being taken by police together with other organisations. Schemes such as Bar Watch and Shop Watch were two examples, he said. PC Robson said he had already been out and about meeting new people and old friends. "The people are nice people. It's a pro-police town with a few problems," he said.