Anger has greeted the news that Mid Sussex has lost a significant chunk of its police officers to Brighton.

Ten officers have been taken from Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath and East Grinstead to boost numbers in the city .

Chief Inspector Sam Coates, district commander for the Mid Sussex area, said her division had been left with 73 officers.

Chief Insp Coates said she had expected to lose about six officers after changes to the structure of Sussex Police.

The area policed by her division was made smaller in the changes, losing villages such as Ditchling and Forest Row, which are now policed by the East Downs division.

Chief Insp Coates said she had lost more officers than she had expected because it was decided Mid Sussex should share the burden of vacancies across Sussex.

She said: "We always have officers coming in and out of divisions. We had relatively short notice of the postings and had to send officers to Brighton and the East Downs division.

"There was a bit of an emergency to get officers to Brighton, especially with officers leaving the city to go to the Metropolitan Police.

"We had more officers here than we could afford to pay for. At some point we were anticipating a phased reduction to the operational strength.

"But this is all part of the normal ebb and flow of staffing."

About half of the officers moved from Mid Sussex are expected to be replaced. They should be fully trained within six months.

Mid Sussex District councillor Anne Jones said the move was dangerous because it would take bobbies off the beat.

She said: "I am concerned about this because we know the reasons why we have lower crime in Mid Sussex than in some other areas is because we have had so many officers on the beat.

"The home secretary David Blunkett has recognised we need more police on the streets.

"In Mid Sussex we have areas where there are some problems. I know when when there has been friction we have been able to go to the local bobby on the beat and get the situation sorted out.

"With team policing the officers don't know the area so well. To remove them is giving out the wrong message to criminals.

"I thought with the huge increase in council tax we should have more police, not less. It is physical bodies on the beat which prevent crime."

Chief Insp Coates said: "Fighting crime is more than just having bobbies on the beat. I am absolutely confident we have the right number of officers to maintain the success we have had."

She said the challenge was to improve on crime figures, which were already low.