Tiptree villagers will meet police in a mobile police station after the failure of trials using the village library for surgery sessions.

Weekly sessions were moved from the police station to the library as part a cost-cutting scheme which closed the police station and moved officers to share the nearby fire station.

The force has now announced the library will no longer be used, after villagers complained the venue was unsuitable. Instead, a mobile police station will park at the Tesco supermarket, in Church Road, every Thursday.

Parish council chairman Terry Slater said: “It wasn’t working in the library, so we have been told it will change.

“Before the police station closed and the officers moved to the fire station, it was only manned on certain days, anyway.”

Mr Slater added the priority was to maintain effective policing, however that was achieved.

He said: “It’s not about buildings. It’s about having enough police on the street every day, doing the job.”

John Elliott, borough councillor for Tiptree, said: “On the face of it, it doesn’t sound good. Yes, the closure seems to be working, but there will always be people who take advantage. We need more police.”

Police stations in Brightlingsea, West Mersea, Wivenhoe, Ongar, Waltham Abbey, Saffron Walden and Stansted Mountfitchet were also being considered for closure.

However, they may be saved if the force adopts alternative money-saving schemes, such as slimming down its five divisions to three. Such a move would bring Colchester, Braintree, Tendring, Chelmsford and Maldon districts under a single command.

The force budget is being cut by £41million over the next four years, most of the cuts coming in the first two years.

Chief Constable Jim Barker-McCardle said the latest plans would be announced at the end of August.

Tiptree’s MP, Priti Patel, welcomed the news the library would no longer be used for surgeries.

She said: “It is important the police provide a regular and visible presence in Tiptree to reassure the local community they are taking their safety seriously.”