REDDITCH bobbies might be back on their bikes if police secure funding for an initiative.

Though the plans are in the early stages, they could eventually mean the return of the traditional bobby on a bike in Redditch town centre.

Officers have been using mountain bikes in parts of Birmingham for several years.

Sgt Stuart Crebbin, of Redditch central sector, said: "If police officers are on mountain bikes, they will be able to patrol a lot more of the wooded areas in our patch, such as Pitcheroak Wood and the area around Abbey Stadium.

"There are also a lot of narrow one-way streets and subways, so officers on bikes will be able to get to incidents very quickly.

"It'll just be like having officers on foot patrol but with a bike, they will be able to cover a wider area, faster and will still be highly visible."

Sgt Crebbin added: "It'll just be central sector officers on bikes and we'll still have officers in cars. All the response teams will still be in cars."

The number of recorded crimes in the sector has fallen dramatically recently, which Sgt Crebbin said was due to a number of successful high- profile police operations.

In central sector in December there were 241 recorded incidents compared to 354 last December.

Reported incidents include everything from shoplifting to reports of domestic violence.