Canterbury police will keep monitoring demand in rural areas, after shelving a proposed restructure.

It would've replaced some permanent officers, with staff working at 24/7 hubs in Rolleston and Rangiora.

Many of the thousand submissions supported the idea, but it was rejected by affected communities.

Canterbury District Commander Tony Hill says the feedback showed police can meet demand with current staff.

"We just questioned whether we've got them in the right places - what we've seen from our people is some really good suggestions about how we might deploy those, to actually meet that without disrupting people in their roles."

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