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A cost-saving shake-up will see police officers in Cheshire having daily briefings outside their beat area before travelling to work.

Cheshire Police is ending its current structure of 19 Neighbourhood Policing Units, replacing them with eight "local policing units".

It will see officers driving to their beat area after morning meetings in one of eight locations in the county.

But the plan has led to concerns police could waste time stuck in traffic.

The new routine will see morning briefings ending at the stations in Frodsham, Knutsford, Wilmslow, Nantwich and Congleton as well as Birchwood and Penketh in Warrington.

From July, those officers will instead meet at 08:00 BST at stations in Chester, Macclesfield, Crewe and Warrington town centre.

Deputy Chief Constable Janette McCormick said the reorganisation scheme is part of the force's target of saving £34m over the next four years.

And she insisted officers will remain committed to neighbourhood policing.

Ms McCormick said the extra time spent driving will be compensated by the issuing of tablet computers, allowing officers to spend less time in police stations.

However, speaking at a Birchwood public meeting called to debate the issue, local councillor Jill Bolton said: "I am particularly concerned.

"Warrington is famous for its horrendous traffic. We just need a little accident on the motorway and everything gets clogged-up."

Nantwich resident Joan Daniels said she was concerned about drunken disturbances outside local pubs and nightclubs.

She added: "We're big enough here to need our own police force. There are a lot of people in Nantwich now."

Ms McCormick said: "We are investing in a further 130 officers in frontline policing, and recruiting 53 officers whilst maintaining PCSO numbers in 2015/2016.

"Where possible, we are going to deploy from a reduced number of deployment bases to improve the tasking and briefing process for our officers."