Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

£3 (ish) per year increase for more coppers on the beat?

The Wiltshire and Swindon Police and Crime Panel has approved a proposal by the police Commissioner Angus Macpherson to increase the precept by 1.99%.

This means council tax payers will see an increase to their bills of approx £3 per year.

Despite the increase the amount of funding available to run the police force will reduce due to government cuts. The Chief Constable said at the meeting that he would have preferred a 10% increase in order to maintain policing levels, but this could not be done due to government capping, which limits increases to under 2%.

Any increase above 2% would need a referendum which would cost about £1,000,000 and would probably result in a 'No' vote.

The increase means the police won't get the one off 'freeze grant', offered by the government to precepting authorities that don't increase their tax.

The fire authority will set their prrecept next week.