Community leaders are thrilled that the voice of Mid Canterbury has been heard by police in their decision to not proceed with a proposed restructure of rural policing.

The chair of the Rakaia Community Association Neil Pluck is giving credit to the police for listening to the community's wishes about not wanting to lose their local "bobby" Senior Sergeant Trevor Gurney to traffic duties.

"He's positively fizzing," Pluck said about the news.

"He's thrilled because he loves his job."

Pluck said the proposed changes, which were made public in August, were a Canterbury-wide issue, with small communities all fighting for the same result, and Rakaia was specifically inspired by Culverden, a small town they could relate to.

"They got hundreds of people to their meetings, and we thought if they can do it so can we. To the police's credit they turned up to listen and they've unexpectedly changed their mind."

Pluck said they felt "nervous, because of the cool, carefully worded responses" by the police leaders who fronted at their community meetings, thinking that was a signal of a "done deal".

"The people who spoke at the Rakaia meetings were good, solid people with true stories about the effect the local policeman has on their lives, and not only does he support us, but we support him."

Those people included Cassie Keen-Gorman, who started a petition to keep their local cop, local GP Sue Fowlie presented a submission, and Rakaia School principal Mark Ellis spoke out against about the proposed changes.

Ashburton District mayor Neil Brown said the mayoral forum expressed their concerns to the Canterbury District Commander Superintendent Tony Hill and the Police Commissioner Richard Chambers about the process and the impact it could have on rural communities.

Brown said they laid out the fact that there are big differences in rural and urban policing, with each having different needs and requirements.

"There was an opportunity to comment, and they did in large numbers. This is what our community wanted and it's what our community got.

"As far as democracy is concerned it was a great process and the community is happy with the outcome."

Canterbury District Commander Superintendent Tony Hill said the proposal was a genuine attempt to offer a better service to the district, including a 24-7 response in rural areas.

"Much of the feedback from staff and the community has been supportive," he said in a statement.

"The reality is that the proposal was not acceptable to many of the communities affected, and in my view their buy-in was a critical element in the proposal’s success."

He said some of what Police aimed to do can be achieved without the wider restructure and they will now work carefully through the options to decide what is possible.

"Every district has its own priorities and demands and those can often be met through deployment decisions."

Canterbury District’s Gang Disruption Unit, Beat Teams and a Retail Crime Team in Christchurch were not contingent on the restructure and will still go ahead.

"Road policing will also remain a priority. It is one of the areas of highest demand in the district," Hill said.

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said he supported the District Commander’s decision.

“I want to acknowledge the hard work that was put into the review by District Commander Tony Hill and his leadership team.

“Our staff are exceptional and I am confident Canterbury police will continue to offer an outstanding service across the district.

“While the review proposals had merit, including the proposed 24-7 response model, I have long believed in the value of visible and engaged police who know their communities and the people in them.

"That is effective both for prevention and law enforcement, in both cities and rural areas.”

At the beginning of community consultation in August, the Police Association president Chris Cahill said the proposal to redeploy the likes of Rakaia's Trevor Gurney to traffic policing was essentially shutting down the local station.