GREATER Manchester's Chief Constable has warned that he may consider staff redundancies for the first time in the force's history because of a "deeply disappointing" budget.

And Michael Todd has also disclosed that due to what he terms "a poor budget settlement", Greater Manchester Police (GMP) could be forced to take officers away from divisions.

His comments came after Greater Manchester Police Authority (GMPA) approved the police budget for 2005-2006 at £493,914 million, an increase of 5.33 per cent above the current year level.

Authority chairman Derek Osbaldestin described the budget as "tough but fair" and said it would enable GMP to maintain its current number of more than 8,000 officers, the highest in its 30-year history. But he acknowledged that some improvements to equipment and crime fighting technology might have to be deferred.

As a result of the budget announcement, the precept levied through local council tax will be £105.41 for a two-person Band D property. This represents a charge of £2.03 per week, an increase of 14p per week over 2004-2005.

The chairman praised GMP's achievements in significantly reducing the level of crime over the last couple of years and said the Authority was determined to set a budget that would enable the good work to continue.

But Chief Constable Michael Todd described the budget as "deeply disappointing".

He continued: "The Authority knows we have worked extremely hard to dramatically improve the performance of GMP; 10,354 fewer burglaries, 1,532 fewer robberies and an overall 35,282 reduction in crime for the past 12 months to January. This budget does put that improvement in jeopardy.

"This will now be the second year running that due to a poor budget settlement we may well have to take officers away from divisions. It also looks like for the first time in GMP's history that we will have to consider making staff redundant and it puts in doubt the continued deployment of the current number of police constable support officers."

"Despite our determination to keep our force strength at 8,065 officers, it would be incredibly naive to think that these cuts will not impact on frontline policing. However, I can give you an absolute assurance that we will do all we can to minimise this."

TORY election hopeful Alex Williams has condemned the budget shortfall which could mean redundancies in the police force.

Mr Williams, who will contest the Bury South seat at the next General Election, said: "The crisis demonstrates that Labour are all talk on tackling crime. In Radcliffe, Prestwich and Whitefield, a future Conservative Government would provide for an extra 80 officers."