Policing in Bradford is to undergo a radical overhaul as the number of divisions covering the district is reduced from three to two.

A review of the boundaries of the three divisions - Bradford South, Bradford North and Keighley - is being carried out as part of a move to align local policing boundaries with council wards.

It is hoped the changes will make working between policing teams and its partners more effective. And Assistant Chief Constable David Crompton, who is in charge of local policing, wants to redraw the lines by March.

The issue was raised by the district's three commanders. They thought inconsistencies between police boundaries and those of the Bradford Council were a significant obstacle to better partnership working at local level.

ACC Crompton said: "The current set-up has boundaries which do not make sense to the local communities. For example, Manningham is split between Bradford North and Bradford South police divisions but it is one community. Similarly Shipley is split between Bradford North and Keighley divisions. This runs contrary to the ethos of neighbourhood policing.

"The Bradford district currently has three police divisions. This can inhibit partnership working because there are three different police management teams with whom partners need to negotiate and plan. This can be the source of delays and inefficiencies and tends to add to the complexity of successful multi-agency working. It's felt that the number of divisions should be reduced.

"This review is not about closing any police stations or public enquiry desks. No stations will close and front-line staffing numbers will remain the same.

"We did consider making the whole district into one single policing division. It would make partnership working more efficient, but it would make the Bradford district the largest police division in the whole of the UK, outside of London, and this would be too big a burden for one commander.

"So it appears that two police divisions covering the Bradford district is the logical choice. There are two very new police stations, Trafalgar House in Bradford and Airedale House in Keighley, and we intend to fully utilise them in the proposed structure."

He confirmed that it had already been a topic of conversation with the Council's chief executive Tony Reeves and deputy chief executive Jo Miller.

Divisional staff are being consulted, along with the West Yorkshire Police Authority, local councils and other community representatives. A decision is expected on where the line will be drawn by early autumn.

The last time the policing divisions in the district were reorganised was in April, 2001, dropping from five to the current three. The changes used local authority wards rather than the existing beat boundaries and were expected to lead to savings of £1 million.