A BID to save Gwent Police force in the face of a Wales-wide shake up was voted down by Torfaen councillors.

Four councillors spoke out in favour of maintaining Gwent police, but were voted down.

Instead it was decided that the council set out a list of demands for the future of policing in Torfaen.

In an extraordinary meeting on Monday night councillors agreed to write to the Home Secretary, the Secretary of State for Wales and Tony Blair outlining their views on the future of policing.

After a short debate councillors agreed to ask the Home Secretary for more time to decide on a preferred option and also to demand that Torfaen

Retain domestic policing accountability

Continue with the effective community policing

Maintain effective public protection all with no significant increase in cost to the tax payer.

An all-Wales force will provide a more effective means of dealing with terrorism, according to the Secretary of State for Wales, Peter Hain.

Council Leader Councillor Bob Wellington called the move to unite the four Welsh forces, "a fait accompli."

He said: "The most you can do is to write to the minister telling him you need more information, anything other than that would be flying in the face of the Local Government Association and in the face of our own local police force."

Councillor Rose Seabourne agreed, saying: "We cannot make a decision not knowing what precept the people of Torfaen would have to pay out on future outcomes."

Councillor Brian Mawby said the "status quo was not an option because that will bring additional costs. What we can submit to the minister are the characteristics of the force we want to see - a local force with some measure of accountability locally."

Limited - but strong - opposition to an all-Wales force came from four councillors.

Councillor Aneurin James said Mr Hain was a 'yes man'.

He said: "The minister runs off to London and gets patted on the head before coming back to Wales to tell us how it is going to be.

"If we believe that people want to retain their police force lets send a message to the minister that we want to keep it, and ask for a referendum by the people of Wales. My amendment is that this council votes to keep the status quo and keep the Gwent police force."

Cllr Ivor Davies said: "We are being bamboozled into this - we didn't rush in and change the structure of the police force when we had terrorism in Northern Ireland."

There was also support for keeping Gwent police force from Councillor Raymond Williams and Councillor Joyce Gregory, who said: "There are people in our community, particularly the elderly, who are more likely to die of hypothermia than another bomb."